Goodbye Goldilocks

A successful actress in her native Australia and England, Arthy has also written stories dramatized by the BBC. Her first novel, however, misfires despite an intriguing premise. The central figure is Helen Charters, 15, who wants to become a nun, to stay at the convent in Brisbane where her divorced mother had sent the girl, four years earlier. Upset by her daughter's decision, Mrs. Charters asks her ex-husband to take Helen in charge and he arrives to whisk her away from the convent, into his hedonistic, cosmopolitan world. Helen grows dangerously fanatic in the company of her father, his mistress and other strangers as he introduces her to high life in Singapore, London and finally Ibiza, where the girl's madness causes the expected tragedy. Unfortunately, the characters here are less lively than the places and things that Arthy describes brilliantly. Clearly she has talents that will serve her well in future works. (October 7)