The Girls in 3-B

by Valerie Taylor

Book Overview

This classic pulp novel about three young women who leave behind their small-town roots for the big city is "a remarkable slice of bohemia from the 1950s" and a "wondrous tale of love, lesbianism, poetry, and sex" (Jack Halberstam).

Annice, Pat, and Barby are best friends from Iowa, freshly arrived in booming 1950s Chicago to explore different paths toward independence, self-expression, and sexual freedom. From the hip-hang...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558614567
• ISBN13: 9781558614567
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Feminist Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Titillating Pulp

This was an enjoyable read. The characters were delightful. Well written and absorbing. LaMonte Heflick, author Pup Fiction(TM) Books

Retro (and subversive) entertainment

In this classic pulp reprint, three young women move from a small town to the hustle and bustle of Chicago, where they hope to fulfill their dreams. Pat is saving herself for marriage and develops a crush on a man in her office who seems so out of reach. Annice is studying poetry at college, at least until she can get married, but when she meets Alan, their relationship doesn't exactly progress as she hoped. Barby breathes easier now that she's away from home, but feels as though she will always be easy prey for men. When Barby begins a friendship with her boss Miss Gordon, she finds herself awakening to something for which she has no words. In her afterword, Lisa Walker posits "The Girls in 3-B" within the pulp genre of the 1950s and `60s and details the subversive ways Valerie Taylor undermined the genre by including independent women and wholesome lesbian characters. This book is a shining example of early feminist works that shows the complexities of women's lives in the 1950s, as well as expressing the often-overlooked vibrancy of women's novels.