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The Girls in 3-B

Valerie Taylor,

Tania Modleski (Afterword)

3.41 · Rating details · 287 ratings · 49 reviews

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 of a bohemian lifestyle to the sophisticated lure of romance with a handsome, wealthy, married boss to the happier security of a lesbian relationship, these three experience first ...more

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ebook, 256 pages

Published October 1st 2012 by Feminist Press (first published 1959)

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Jun 06, 2007 Stephy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: older lesbians

Recommended to Stephy by: Valerie Taylor

Shelves: fiction, lesbian, i_was_reading_his-her_works, funread

This Author, Valerie Taylor also wrote "Prism," a popular lesbian novel from the mid eighties, and several other books in the Lesbian Pulp Fiction genre. I read them before time began.

She had been married with children until she came out, and had one son, possibly two. When I first knew her, she was a wonderful woman, just past sixty years of age. Her life partner of many years, lesbian Lawyer Pearl Heart, had died just before we met. I was proud to call her my dear friend for years. We visited This Author, Valerie Taylor also wrote "Prism," a popular lesbian novel from the mid eighties, and several other books in the Lesbian Pulp Fiction genre. I read them before time began.

She had been married with children until she came out, and had one son, possibly two. When I first knew her, she was a wonderful woman, just past sixty years of age. Her life partner of many years, lesbian Lawyer Pearl Heart, had died just before we met. I was proud to call her my dear friend for years. We visited, chatted and exchanged letters for many years.

She published a book of Poetry with another lesbian poet, Jeannette Foster, author Of Sex Variant Women in Literature, a mighty overview of lesbians in literature. Jeanette was also the writer for Kinsey, Pomeroy and Martin at the University of Indiana when they wrote "Sex in the Human Male" and "Sex in the Human Female"

She was involved in, and Keynote Speaker at two Lesbian Writer's Conferences in Chicago, organized by Marie Kuda and other lesbian Writers in the Chicago Area.

When she retired from her long time job at a clipping service and from her daytime editor job, she moved, First to Margaretville, New York, where she lived in the small town of her dreams. Making a fresh start in life in her early sixties. She had a brief but passionate affair with a widowed straight woman, who broke her heart. She spoke of this woman but once to me, when she later quipped, "These mixed marriages never work out."

She had a very bad fall on the ice that winter, and broke some bones. When she recovered, her son helped her move across the country to relocate someplace with no ice. She always had pain where she had broken bones,

Tucson, Arizona was the place she chose to rebuild her life from scratch yet another time; this time permanently. She became Mother Goddess to a whole new group of young lesbians, who loved her and lovingly cared for as she aged. A couple or three women moved in to care for her for several years, until she was unable to live at home.

Then she moved into a nursing home, where her friends raised money to pay for the cost of her care, and checked on her daily until her quiet death. She died surrounded by her friends, and was mourned Nationally in Lesbian and Gay Media. I, too, mourned her, and took comfort in the fact that she had a productive, full life and was beloved by all who knew her.
...more

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Mar 08, 2020 Bill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt, fiction, 2020-challenges

A couple of years ago I discovered The Feminist Press and their Femmes Fatales 'women write pulp' series. It introduced me to writers such as Vera Caspary, Evelyn Piper and Valerie Taylor. I first read Taylor's Stranger on Lesbos. She was noted as an author in the lesbian pulp fiction genre. The Girls in 3-B is my second look at her work.

Annice, Pat and Barby are three friends living in a small farm community. For their own differing reasons, they want to move to the big city, Chicago. Annice is A couple of years ago I discovered The Feminist Press and their Femmes Fatales 'women write pulp' series. It introduced me to writers such as Vera Caspary, Evelyn Piper and Valerie Taylor. I first read Taylor's Stranger on Lesbos. She was noted as an author in the lesbian pulp fiction genre. The Girls in 3-B is my second look at her work.

Annice, Pat and Barby are three friends living in a small farm community. For their own differing reasons, they want to move to the big city, Chicago. Annice is bored with farm living and wants to explore the arts and life in the big city. Barby wants to get away from home from a childhood trauma. Pat wants a career in the big city. The three share an apartment, 3-B, in Chicago. Annice starts as a student trying to improve her poetry. Barby's father, who has a strange relationship with his daughter, gets her a job in a department store. Pat gets a job with a book publisher.

Their lives diverge quite rapidly. Annice, even though she is sort of dating Jackson, a student at the college, gets involved with a 'Beatnik', Alan and begins to explore sex an drugs. Barby is raped by the apartment manager and finds herself stressed and more and more under his control. Pat has a deep crush on the editor of the publishing company.

The story follows the three, developing their characters nicely. Many powerful themes are approached and discussed, child abuse, abortion, incest, lesbian relationships, drugs. Considering the story was originally written in 1959, they must have been more powerful. The pulp publishers seemed to have much more freedom than the movies and TV and more conservative publishing companies. Taylor approaches these themes delicately without too much titillation. It's an interesting, different story, maybe a gritty Harlequin in some ways but dealing with strong issues. I enjoyed reading it. I liked the Introduction description of the pulp authors and I enjoyed the Afterword, covering Taylor's life. I also liked the ending. (4 stars) ...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Bekki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lesbian pulp fiction from the 'golden age' (roughly 1952-1965) is one of my greatest genre loves. It has the dual appeal of being both an interesting glimpse into the world of women and LGBT folk in a long ago, much more hostile time period AND a quick, soapy, often campy-sleazy read. These books are very rarely great - or even good - literature and shouldn't be read by people who are looking for such. They were almost universally written by straight men and their only real purpose was to shock ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Kurt Reichenbaugh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pulp, beat-other

I have this book in an edition published by The Feminist Press. Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp. We've managed to find a handful of books from this series over the years and this one is the first one I've finally gotten around to reading. Originally published in 1959, on its surface The Girls in 3-B was purely intended to pique the interest of book browsers in drug stores and truck stops, looking for something risqué to read without shelling out a lot of money in a dingy porno store on the wron I have this book in an edition published by The Feminist Press. Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp. We've managed to find a handful of books from this series over the years and this one is the first one I've finally gotten around to reading. Originally published in 1959, on its surface The Girls in 3-B was purely intended to pique the interest of book browsers in drug stores and truck stops, looking for something risqué to read without shelling out a lot of money in a dingy porno store on the wrong side of town. Lesbian fiction was a successful genre with some paperback houses, and probably a fairly reliable way for publishers and writers to make some quick money.

Far from being salacious, this novel depicts a fairly frank story of three college-age friends embarking on their lives away from their parents in the big city. The book shows a time when sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual aggression in general was open and tolerated by society: "Why don't you women learn that your place is in bed? All this futile struggle to create when all you're really good for is to release some man's inhibitions." It also shows the ultimate squalor and shallowness of the Beat scene that probably ran rampant on campuses. And yes, it explores a lesbian relationship, but in a sensitive way instead of a sensational manner. Much of the novel is explicit and somewhat brutal for its time. And Valerie Taylor had a terrific eye for social observations that is often missed in standard paperback fiction of the day. "Unemployment in other parts of the country brought Negroes, hillbillies and Latin Americans into the city at the rate of three or four thousand a day, to crowd overflowing tenements and seek non-existent jobs." I suppose one could say that the ending isn't particularly realistic, but the demands of paperback publishers of the day didn't give writers a lot of room to work with in wrapping up a story within an expected page count. But the novel has a lot of subjects worth exploration in its short length. More than you'd expect from just another dime-store disposable paperback.

This edition also contains a forward and afterward that examines the history of "pulp" novels, especially those written by women. Worth picking up for anyone interested in the genre. ...more

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Dec 05, 2014 Carla Remy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pulp-and-romance

Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp, from The Feminist Press reprinted this 1959 novel. I was thrilled beyond belief when my boyfriend found this and brought it home for me, knowing that two of my paramount interests happen to be pulp novels and feminism (this series seeks to mend any perceived discrepancy between those two). Three 18 year old girls, in the story, leave the country for Chicago. The best parts depict the beat scene and an experiment with peyote. One character's discovery of lesbiani ...more

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Feb 21, 2022 David rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Dorothy B. Hughes book I recently read ('The Blackbirder') is part of the 'Femmes Fatales' series from The Feminist Press. Since Hughes hooked me in, I perused the other 'FF' series titles. ~ and happened upon this unlikely entry.

~ 'unlikely' because I was halfway through the book when I said to myself, 'Let's hold these horses! Just how 'fatale' *are* these femmes, anyway?!' There was nary a noir trope in sight. The sultry book cover notwithstanding, the only thing marginally 'dangerous' a The Dorothy B. Hughes book I recently read ('The Blackbirder') is part of the 'Femmes Fatales' series from The Feminist Press. Since Hughes hooked me in, I perused the other 'FF' series titles. ~ and happened upon this unlikely entry.

~ 'unlikely' because I was halfway through the book when I said to myself, 'Let's hold these horses! Just how 'fatale' *are* these femmes, anyway?!' There was nary a noir trope in sight. The sultry book cover notwithstanding, the only thing marginally 'dangerous' about the 3-B gals was that they'd decided to share an apartment together in Chicago in the '50s... unsupervised!

Full disclosure: ~ well, things do get a little edgier than that. One of the three realizes that she's *had it* with men and, upon being handed a classic lesbian novel in the way one might be slipped a mickey, she goes Sappho-a-go-go!:

"It's what I've wanted all my life. How can anybody want a man, when there's this?"

That's slightly fatale in spirit, I suppose. (And slightly humorous.)

'The Girls in 3-B' is not unlike Rona Jaffe's 'The Best of Everything' of the previous year (1958), as both books feature a trio of hopefuls out to make their mark in the business world. But perhaps it's a bit less dynamic; it does feel perfunctory and the pulse of the narrative thrust is weak. Still... there *is* that girl-on-girl angle - and

SPOILER ALERT

- there's nothing particularly tragic in the depiction. No hint of "strange lust" or "unnatural love" here. In that sense, it's more like Patricia Highsmith's 'The Price of Salt' than the other kind (the darker kind) of lesbian pulp novels widely available during the period.

From reading the book's afterword, I certainly gained respect for the author (whose real name was Velma Young). She had a fascinating, very full / influential and noteworthy life. I can see where 'The Girls...' may have had more punch in its day, even if it's not particularly explosive stuff.

Today, the book retains historical value in the way it presents sexual attitudes. It's of its time and I guess it never needed to be great lit. ...more

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Feb 12, 2010 Evan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reads, gay-interest-etc, chicago, pulp-trash, pop-culture-misc, retro-lounge-funky

[EXHIBIT A of why it's important for me to get my thoughts about books down in writing at the time of reading. Here's a review I wrote in 2010 of a book I have ZERO recollection of reading. And yet, here it is; a detailed review proving I did, indeed, read it. Reposted with some slight corrections].

--
This book was mentioned in another book I read recently in a chapter discussing gay and lesbian history. The book was written by a lesbian writer for the pulp trade and published in 1959. Like most
[EXHIBIT A of why it's important for me to get my thoughts about books down in writing at the time of reading. Here's a review I wrote in 2010 of a book I have ZERO recollection of reading. And yet, here it is; a detailed review proving I did, indeed, read it. Reposted with some slight corrections].

--
This book was mentioned in another book I read recently in a chapter discussing gay and lesbian history. The book was written by a lesbian writer for the pulp trade and published in 1959. Like most pulp books its main audience was heterosexual men and the objective was titillation. But Taylor is a better writer than that, and this book is smart, sympathetic, charming and fairly non-sensationalistic, with plenty of elements of a cautionary tale.

Three country girls, high school friends, from Iowa trek to Chicago to see if they can make a go at life on their own, living in a dingy apartment on the South Side in the 1950s. The trio, Annice, Pat and Barby each have their own backstory and personalities, which Taylor details just enough as necessary for the story. Barby, the daughter of a successful department store owner, seems to be the most mysterious of the three; sexual abuse in her past has made her leery of men. The other two girls, it seems, are looking for love in all the wrong places; fantasizing over bad boys and wolfish executives. Annice learns the hard way in her fling with a loafing, arrogant, drug-using beatnik prick, while Pat reluctantly seems to be heading toward a conventional marriage path. At first, it looks like the book is going to be told from Annice's point of view, but soon we see that Taylor has a more ambitious agenda and juggles her shifting centers of interest between the inner thoughts and actions of the three girls with ease.

Although Taylor wants to show the limited options for women in the patriarchal-marriage-menial jobs dynamic of the 1950s, she is not so simplistic as to depict all the men as leering assholes. Several of the men are sympathetic characters, even though all of them have a healthy sex drive, but this is something that all the characters realize and accept as normal. Barby's relationship with an older lesbian mentor is handled tastefully and sweetly; there are no regrets or suicides or recriminations -- something probably refreshing for a lesbian-flavored novel of the time. There is sexual abuse in Barby's past and a series of sleazy and guilt-ridden liaisons with the Italian janitor, and it seems like these are meant to build sympathy for Barby so that her path to lesbianism seems "acceptable" for readers of the time. The poignant and sad state of the non-acceptance of lesbian love at the time, in which it had to be hidden, is summed up by one character: "As long as nobody can actually prove anything it's all right."

The book offers a fairly vivid portrait of living and working in Chicago in the 1950s. Near the end, when the office wolf finally makes a move, Pat finds her childish romantic fantasies not so much shattered as willingly abandoned; her reflections on her own sense of right and wrong are very touching. She is growing up. I vacillated between three and four stars on this. It was very enjoyable, perhaps surprisingly so. It's a solid effort.

2010/slight edits 2019 eg/kr ...more

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May 01, 2021 Shoshanna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-fiction, queer

I expected something more like Ann Bannon's works. Actually, I expected something more honestly Lesbian, since Valerie Taylor is an actual Lesbian author and Ann Bannon is straight. I have learned never to expect anything like The Price of Salt, or some of the contemporary Lesbian books I have absolutely loved (Milk Fed, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them), but what you get with this book is still something interesting!

The Girls in 3-B follows three young ...more

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Jan 24, 2022 Malum rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pulp, lgbt

Not strictly lesbian pulp, as the lesbian relationship isn't the main focus of the book.
An interesting read because the lesbian relationship is one of the more normal of the story, where other pulps of the era show lesbian relationships as doomed at best and a product of mental illness at worst. ...more

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Dec 31, 2007 Jason rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book has some gems that kept made me happy I read it. For example, Chapter Seven takes place at a college poetry gathering (the book was first published in 1959). Here's some great dialog:

"Emily Dickinson yet. She's reactionary. You ought to read Henry Miller and learn a new idiom."

"I disagree," the dark man beside the fireplace said. "Emily's in the vanguard. You kids are old-fashioned. But then,"he said sadly, "your whole generation's reactionary."

"You're quite right." The popeyed gir

...more

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Oct 04, 2018 Radclyffe U-Haul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hist-fic, lgbt, lesbian-pulp, wlw, lesbian

Unequivocally happy ending for the lesbian couple. General vibe that lesbianism is the result of (hetero) trauma but at least no one calls it childish or anything. Ilene Gordon is a very sympathetic rendering of what's usually an ugly stereotype (older "confirmed lesbian" preys on innocent traumatized girl; except here she's a savior figure). ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I guess I feel the way I should feel having read this in 2019. We could have been (and still could be) much better humans.

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Jul 17, 2019 Elna Holst rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Girls in 3-B is an interesting read from a historical perspective, even if the lesbian romance, which was like a miniature version of Carol minus the drama, did not occur until halfway through. I really don’t mind as the insight into the pitfalls and problems faced by young, single women in 1950s Chicago was equal parts fascinating and horrifying. If you’ve read Kerouac’s On the Road, here’s the perspective of the women who were (by and large) the victims of the Beat movement, and of an insi ...more

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Feb 11, 2022 Raquel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2022, fiction, february, historical

An interesting and decently written pulp reprint by the Feminist Press that provides a good look at the lives of 3 women struggling against the constraints of femininity in post-war America. The added front and back matter essays provide great context on genre/pulp publishing in America as well as how female characters were treated by the author, specifically her view on lesbianism.

Kudos to the author for the creation of Alan the Beat writer, quite possibly one of the most loathsome examples of ...more

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Jul 18, 2019 Amris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 Stars

Valerie Taylor's The Girls in 3-B is an interesting example of lesbian pulp fiction. I studied lesbian pulp fiction in college, specifically for a Historical Perspectives on American Sexuality class, so I'm unsure how someone without prior knowledge of the genre would appreciate it. Lesbian pulp fiction was an exploitative paperback phenomenon that claimed to be a glimpse into the secret world of lesbianism, but was typically written by men using a female pseudonym. Girls doesn't qu ...more

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Mar 02, 2020 Dennis Mersmann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Valerie Taylor is a hell of a writer. Maybe too good. Who writes things like “A look like a caress passed between them.” I didn’t know we were allowed to write shit that good. And Alan! I hate Alan. He sucks. He’s like a beat generation edge-lord. Who does Valerie Taylor think she is, writing someone so hateable? Read this book. It’s good.

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Jul 28, 2021 J.X. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Absolutely deserves its place in feminist and lesbian pulp history. Though I didn't quite enjoy Pat and Annice's stories as much, they still served as a sharp critique of the predicament newly-liberated women found themselves in thanks to suffrage and their post-war world. But my girl Barby... she too-well deserved to be happy.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jun 02, 2021 Brynne Fitzpatrick rated it it was ok

Story just wasn’t my style, but I owned the book and wanted to give it a chance. The plot is predictable - you don’t really feel like you know the characters. The storyline seemed to go slow during bland moments and sped through elements of the story that were important.

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Mar 27, 2022 Bailey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Okay we did get a technically happy ending but with such a horrific lead up it was still tough to read at times. It was fun to read about the straight girlies like it was just crazy gossip. Very abrupt ending but fine enough!

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Feb 26, 2017 Kate Muriel rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, pulp, queer

*Read for my Lesbian Fiction class in my gender studies minor

I have a lot of thoughts about this book but suffice to say for now, I hated it a lot.

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Sep 29, 2019 Jamie Zaccaria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I enjoyed this story of three young women who are making lives for themselves in Chicago in the 1950's. It's the POV I wish shows like Mad Men would tell.
...more

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Jun 30, 2020 Tabi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A brilliant coming-of-age story of three girl friends who move to Chicago in the 1950's. ...more

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Nov 27, 2020 Kay rated it liked it

Shelves: twisted-lovers-maybes, pulps, queer

My takeaway from this was mostly how awful it seems to be a straight woman in the 50s. Lesbianism seemed chill by comparison.

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Apr 14, 2021 Mandy rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, sad-and-gay, literary-fiction

A surprisingly nuanced and trope-defying take on the 1950s lesbian pulp genre.

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Jun 01, 2021 Jenny Crayne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Fast paced fun read about three girls who move to Chicago together in the late 50s

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Mar 18, 2022 Jeff rated it it was ok · review of another edition

A light-weight story about three girls moving together from a small town and sharing an apartment in the big city (Chicago) and discovering sex, drugs and beatniks.

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Jul 24, 2011 Mel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, pulp, lesbian, queer

I really liked this book. It was simplstic in some ways and it had very young naive girls getting pregnant, dating complete assholes getting married at 18 and making nothing of their lives. But it was still pretty great. Written in 1959, so on the very end of 50s culture it was quite frank about sex, abortions, and the realities of working life for young women. It was essentially three love stories for the three very different women. The accidental career girl who got a crush on her boss, decide I really liked this book. It was simplstic in some ways and it had very young naive girls getting pregnant, dating complete assholes getting married at 18 and making nothing of their lives. But it was still pretty great. Written in 1959, so on the very end of 50s culture it was quite frank about sex, abortions, and the realities of working life for young women. It was essentially three love stories for the three very different women. The accidental career girl who got a crush on her boss, decided to try a career and then decided to give up on it and marry a good catholic boy. The adventerous poet who wanted to experience everything, but dated the worst misogynist asshole I've seen in a long time. I have no idea why this girl put up with him (except she liked the sex) but they did some drugs and had sex for about a month, he took her money, she dropped out of university and he scappered when she got knocked up. The real tragedy was she didn't seem to find any happiness or freedom in any of it and ended up marrying a guy she'd earlier thought "boring" and going back to live on a farm with him, when she'd been trying to escape from that in the first place. The best character however was Barby the beautiful lesbian. Hers was easily the most tragic and disturbing story. She'd been raped by her father's friend when she was 13, her father witnessed the end, but never talked about it and instead started fantasising about her in a very unhealthy way. She was then repeatedly raped by the janitor of their building. However, she developed a crush on a woman she worked with and they ended up falling in love and moving in together. They still had to hide their relationship from everyone (taking different trips into work) but it ended with her really happy and in love, staying in town, keeping her job and that was really great! While not quite as honest as the Ann Bannon I still really enjoyed this and have added the authors other books to my wishlist and look forward to reading them. ...more

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Feb 14, 2017 Bethany rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: all-lgbtqia

This is my first pulp novel, I think! I heard it had a positive portrayal of lesbianism, and it did! Though anything would've looked positive compared to the heterosexual relationships in this book. Yikes?? I liked how much it evoked the 1950s, in a non rosy-coloured glasses way. It reminded me a lot of reading The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe, except a lot shorter and with some lesbianism to offer relief from the heteros. Of course it was about 150+ pages of heterosexual inanity for 10 page ...more

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Apr 29, 2021 lily rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

This book was absolutely amazing. I cannot believe I have not heard of it before. This book is a lesbian pulp fiction novel written in the 1950s about three girls: Annice, Pat, and Barby, navigating their new life in New York City. Each girl has her own journey that explores the difficulties and expectations of women in the 50s.

My favorite plotline was most definitely Barby's, as it made the book diverged from the normal expectations of a lesbian pulp fiction novel. Usually, the lesbian charact ...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Natalie P rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, book-club-for-two

If you're looking for something that is saucy and depicts brave, independent women from the 50's and 60's I suggest looking elsewhere. The only thing you'll find in this book are man hating whiners. I was excited to find something that claimed to "turn conventional ideas of 1950's femininity upside down", but sad to find that it's a bit stereotypical, meandering and vague. I will give it credit and say that in contemporary times it's hard to find the significance of this book, especially when we ...more

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About Valerie Taylor

Valerie Taylor

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Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Valerie Taylor is the pen name of Velma Young (1913–1997), author of the lesbian pulp classics Whisper Their Love (1957), The Girls in 3-B (1959), World Without Men (1963), Journey to Fulfillment (1964), and Ripening (1988). With the $500 proceeds of her first novel, Hired Girl (1953), Taylor bought a pair of shoe ...more