Llosa lets the mind wander

Ricardo, the narrator, worships her with a calf-like love that becomes life-long.

Lily - not her real name - is a fantasist from a poor background aspiring to money and social position. She is found out and flees the scorn of the girls. Ricardo christens her "the bad girl" and sees her periodically over the years.

She becomes the mistress of a Cuban commander, marries an old French bureaucrat, steals his savings and becomes the bigamous wife of a wealthy Brit, then the abused moll of a criminal Japanese businessman.

She rewards Ricardo with fainthearted sexual favours as an insurance policy against her luck running out.

As one of Latin America's foremost novelists, Mario Vargas Llosa brings his characters to life and creates plausible international scenes where the bad girl is drawn to the magnet of wealth and power.

The story has pace, but fails on the score of development. There is no dramatic climax. Ricardo remains the loser, the bad girl's lover of last resort and her repetitive ups and downs in fortune lose their grip well before the sombre ending.

JOHN MOORE