10 Top Places for Lesbians to Visit...if only they could

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What Price Love? 1950s Lesbian Pulp Relationships

Therese is nineteen, working in a department store during the Holiday season. One day a beautiful older woman named Carol comes to her counter and buys a doll which she'd like delivered. Therese, transfixed by Carol, makes a mental note of her address. Although young and inexperienced, Therese writes her a note and is elated when Carol invites her to meet…

Carol is in the middle of a rocky divorce and custody battle. But will that stop her from having an affair with Therese? Will a lesbian relationship be used against Carol in court? Can a new romance survive under these circumstances?

Patricia Highsmith

"The Price of Salt" is written by Patricia Highsmith under the pen name Claire Morgan in 1952. I'm thrilled to hear that a film adaptation of The Price of Salt titled "Carol" starring Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska, is scheduled to shoot in February 2013 in London and New York.

Cate Blanchett and love interest Mia Wasikowska in the movie "Carol"

The author also wrote "The Talented Mr. Ripley" which starred Matt Damon in 1999. You film buffs may also know the psychological thriller she wrote "Strangers on a Train" which became a movie in 1951.

You can find authentic vintage lesbian pulp fiction books at www.lavenderpulp.com

Another Alice and Gertrude?

Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein

Legendary writer Gertrude Stein who penned "a rose is a rose is a rose" partnered with Alice B. Toklas for 40 years during which time they hosted their famous literary and artistic Parisian salon.

Did you know there's another Gertrude and Alice?
Alice Austen, born 1866 in Staten Island NY, is one of the most overlooked American photographers. Her work is considered the first in which lesbian women were openly photographed.

Photograph by Alice Austen

Photograph by Alice Austen

Photograph by Alice Austen

Photograph by Alice Austen

Photograph by Alice Austen

In 1899 Alice met Gertrude Amelia Tate from Brooklyn, NY who became Alice's lifelong companion. As you can imagine, photos of Alice in men's clothing with female companions was very controversial in the late 1800s.

"Alice Austen: Into the Light" is a documentary on her life and her visionary work. Her home and photographs are now the Alice Austen Museum, Staten Island, NY www.aliceausten.org


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Alice Austen and Gertrude Tate 

Alice Austen and Gertrude Tate

Fun Summer Lesbian Reads...Sexy Lesbian Pulp Fiction

Enjoy one of these 1950s pulps  relaxing at the beach, lounging on vacation, or sitting at your office desk when no one's looking!  These classic lesbian pulps are back in print. You can also treat yourself to a vintage original from www.lavenderpulp.com

Whisper Their Love by Valerie Taylor

Joyce, a freshman at a fashionable school for girls meets Edith, the dean of the college, and falls head over heels in love. 

Reprint available from Little Sister's Classics or on Kindle.

Original vintage 1950s paperback sold at www.lavenderpulp.com

Beebo Breeker by Ann Bannon

Beebo Brinker, a young, handsome butch arrives in New York. This 17 year old farm girl, scared and innocent, soon has the femmes of Greenwich Village in the palm of her hand. 

Available from Cleis Press or Naiad Press reprints and Kindle.

Spring Fire by Vin Packer

Shy, awkward Susan Mitchell—"Mitch" to her friends—trembles as the camps beauty queen Leda Taylor, crosses the room toward her for a dance. Who catches whom in this saga is to be determined.

Original vintage 1950s paperback sold at www.lavenderpulp.com

Reprint available from Cleis Press or on Kindle.

World of Women by Carol Caine
Kat was queen of a strange jungle of flesh where only women were allowed and she had all the playmates she could handle.
Reprint available from Cleis Press.

The Girls in 3B by Valerie Taylor

Annice, Pat, and Barby, best friends from Iowa, arrive in booming 1950s Chicago.  Bohemian lifestyles, drug hallucinations, romance and secret lesbian trysts.

Original vintage 1960s paperback sold at www.lavenderpulp.com

Reprint available from The Feminist Press or on Kindle.

Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon

A quick and easy read, Bannon's classic romance focuses on Laura, who meets the alluring Beth, who helps her get into a sorority. Laura is drawn to Beth and slowly falls in love with her. 

Reprint available from Cleis Press or on Kindle.

Olivia...a love that dared not tell its name

Do you remember a time when it seemed like every waking moment was consumed with thoughts of one person? Olivia lays in bed in her Parisian finishing school, listening intently into the wee hours of the night for the steps of Mademoiselle Julie, hoping she will stop outside her doorway. 

Olivia, a teenager finding love. Beginning adulthood, making her way through the complicated course of love. Trying to understand what her desires toward her teacher and mentor means.


"I remember that I felt as if my whole frame had been turned to water…she was coming-tonight-in a few hours---A paean sang in my heart. Had I been weak before? Now, exhilaration flowed through my veins. Why? Why? I didn't stop to think why. I only knew that there, in the immediate future, soon, soon, something was coming to me, some wild delight, some fierce anguish that my whole being called for."

Available at www.lavenderpulp.com

The sons and daughters of Sir Richard Strachey and Lady Strachey. 
Dorothy is the second from the left.

Olivia was written in 1949 by 'Olivia', the pseudonym of Dorothy Strachey. Dorothy was educated at the Marie Souvestre (1830–1905) girls' school at Les Ruches, Fontainebleau, France. She was later a teacher with Souvestre, and one of her pupils was Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1951, the novel was filmed as Olivia, with the lesbian elements toned down, in France by Jacqueline Audry.


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Purchase these 1950s lesbian pulp fiction novels and queer novel Gift Sets
at www.lavenderpulp.com

"Good Girl Art" and Lesbian Pulp

Appointment in Paris by Fay Adams
For sale at www.lavenderpulp.com

What is "Good Girl Art"?
Usually shortened to GGA, this popular type of vintage cover art depicts an attractive sexy woman often regardless of the subject matter. GGA is not about a 'good girl' but rather means 'girl art' that is good.

Collectors use the term GGA to describe this type of lush provocative art frequently featured in comic books, crime fiction mags and pulp fiction of the 1940s and 50s.

Spring Fire is for sale at www.lavenderpulp.com

For sale at www.lavenderpulp.com
Artwork by RA Maguire

Pulp artist Robert Maguire, known for his magnificent depictions of the "femme fatale" created over 700 dramatic cover illustrations including the artwork for lesbian pulp novel "Olivia".

"Olivia" a sensitive tale of budding first love. A young teenage girl's attraction to an older woman of sophistication, Mademoiselle Julie.

"Dames, Dolls, and Gun Molls" by Jim Silke is a book on the artwork of RA Maguire. (1921-2005)

Artwork by RA Maguire

Artwork by RA Maguire

The Golden Age of Lesbian Pulp

The publication of "Women's Barracks" in 1950 brought forth "The Golden Age of Lesbian Pulp". Barbara Grier coined the phrase to describe a decade in which Lesbian Pulp paperbacks flourished and were printed by the millions.

In the restrictive 1950s these books were often a lifeline for women (and men) who otherwise had no connection to a lgbt community. Recently, a 68 year old man told me he read them all when he was 16 pretending that the characters were all male because at that time there really wasn't a male version of these books.


Remember to bookmark this page!
Purchase these 1950s lesbian pulp fiction novels
and queer novel Gift Sets
at www.lavenderpulp.com

After reading "The Girls in 3B" my friend Vanna said "you really felt the yearning, the wanting". Although many of the pulps have sexual book jacket art, the writing was usually much more suggestive than graphic.

There were morality laws to worry about back then. It's horrible to imagine but the lesbian books were expected to end tragically so as not to "encourage homosexuality".  Kudos to author Paula Christian for being the first author to break this pattern with her novel, "Edge of Twilight" which had a positive ending relationship.

Remember to bookmark this page!

Purchase these 1950s lesbian pulp fiction novels 

and queer novel Gift Sets

at www.lavenderpulp.com