Elizabeth Bowen's first novel brilliantly captures the inflammatory mixture of passion and repression among British tourists on the Italian Riviera. Their luxurious seaside hotel seems a closed and comfortable world, marked by dramas no more momentous than tennis games, picnics, and idle gossip. But for the young women of the 1920s, it is a battleground for the clash of tradition and modernity. As rebellious young Sydney Warren tests the boundaries of her incomplete freedom-and becomes obsessed with a clever and charming older woman-she increasingly bewilders her suitors, her handlers, and herself. With the psychological precision and command of atmosphere that marks Bowen's most famous novels, ''The Hotel'' depicts a collection of privileged men and women vacationers enjoying their holiday on the Italian Riviera gossiping and flirting among themselves, and intrigued by the mystery surrounding Sydney Warren. A very entertaining novel of suspense and romance

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