CROUZAT, HENRI. _The Island at the End of the World._ Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1959. An ex-schoolteacher, Patrice, is marooned on a sub-Antarctic island with three nurses; Joan, a nymphomanic; Victoria, a lesbian, and Kathleen, a quite ordinary girl. Due to fortuitous circumstances, they manage to assure themselves the necessities of life, and between Robinson-Crusoe-ish struggles, embark on a round of excesses gradually diminished by the horrible deaths of Kathleen, then Victoria. Fascinating, slightly macabre. + CUSHING, MARY WATKINS. _The Rainbow Bridge._ G P Putnam’s Sons, 1954. This book is included for the light it sheds on another novel in this list, Marcia Davenport’s _Of Lena Geyer_, and not for the sake of any impertinent conclusions about the real people involved. Mrs. Cushing served for seven years as companion and buffer against the world for the famous prima donna, Olive Fremstad, and Mme. Fremstad’s reclusive, fantastically disciplined personality seems to have served, at least in part, as model for Lena Geyer. At any rate, both books become more interesting when read together. DANE, CLEMENCE. (pseud. of Winifred Ashton); _Regiment of Women._ Macmillan, 1917. Possibly the earliest novel of variance. A lengthy book of the subtle sadism of the domineering headmistress of a girl’s school. DARIUS, MICHEL. _I, Sappho of Lesbos._ Castle Books, May 1960. Supposedly translated from a Medieval Latin manuscript conveniently lost on the Andrea Doria. In first-person, this weaves the better-known traditions about Sappho into a racy, fast-moving novel. The lesbian content is not emphasized, unduly. Writing-wise, this invites comparison with the work of Pierre Louys. The “scholarship” is completely tongue-in-cheekish, of course, as with the _Songs of Bilitis_. In general, this should prove the Title of the Year for those who wonder why they don’t write like Pierre Louys anymore. (Department of Unpaid Advertising; this one can NOW be ordered through Winston Book Service; see Appendix.) DAVENPORT, MARCIA. _Of Lena Geyer._ Scribner, 1936. Well-known novel of the life of an opera singer. Lena has a young satellite and adorer, but Elsie is careful to say that while “gossip has had many cruel things to say of this friendship ... there was, needless to say, not a word of truth in the essential accusation.” The two women remain together, even after Lena’s marriage, until her death. DAVEY, WILLIAM. _Dawn Breaks the Heart._ Howell Soskin & Co, 1941. A lengthy episode involves the sensitive hero’s elopement with Vivian, an irresponsible girl who turns out to be a lesbian and leaves him for another woman. Excellent.