DOROTHY HEYWARD, already known for her collaboration with her husband, Dubose Heyward, in the stage version of "Porgy," reveals in this, her first novel, a distinct gift for story-telling. The publishers call it a "spirited, sparkling tale"; such it is, and as such it will appeal to the majority of its readers. It is more improbable than most fiction, but if one discounts this feature, which may or may not be a flaw, the story is enter-taining enough for the warmest summer evening.

The plot revolves about three persons--the young Italian composer who likes to keep his audience waiting, and finds that temperament has serious after-effects; Jan. a harpist, a born trouper and a thoroughly amusing one; and Tad. scion of an old New York family, who behaves is the traditional manner of the reprobate sons whom we have grown to expect in American fiction. How the troupe travels the rocky road to Broadway, only to find the inevitable catastrophe awaiting them, and how the heroine appears at the end in a tent show somewhere in Georgia--all this is told nimbly, if a little incredibly at times. The climax is good melodrama, and little else. If Mrs. Hey ward writes more light novels in the same vein, they can all be recommended for summer reading with the same assurance with which "Three-A-Day" is approved.