Partly due to her precocity—her first book was published when she was only 22—but more to the fact that her talent is genuinely individual, Pamela Hansford Johnson has attracted considerable attention in England. She has never, I believe, had an equal success here [in America], nor up till now has she deserved it. Although full of vitality and color, "This Bed Thy Centre" was a confused and ill-organized story, while "Blessed Above Women," its successor, had a morbid, macabre quality which was definitely unpleasant. Skillful technically, it was mainly a tour de force. With "World's End," however—a very moving though quite unpretentious tale—Pamela Johnson has suddenly acquired a new depth and maturity.

By one definition—the simplest—"World's End" is a love story, dealing with a struggling young couple, Arnold and Doris Brand….

As to their personal story, it is so ordinary, so unexceptional that...