Beebo Brinker by Ann Bannon

THE RAINBOW READER WELCOMES YOU BACK TO THE REWIND SERIES

Shining A Spotlight On Amazing Books From The Past

With Special Guest Reviewer, The Cat, from sister blog Good Lesbian Books, “a guide to books about lesbians, and books by lesbians – from romance to graphic novels!”  

Book:  Beebo Brinker

Author:  Ann Bannon
Publisher:  Gold Medal Books/Naiad Press/Cleis Press

Original Cover Art by
Gold Medal Books - 1962

Written in 1962, Beebo Brinker is the final book in the famous pulp fiction series The Beebo Brinker Chronicles by Ann Bannon.  

Although it can easily be read first, as it's actually a prequel.

Beebo Brinker introduces readers to the 18-year-old butch lesbian who has since become a classic character in lesbian history.  Earlier books in the series introduce additional women who cross paths with Beebo later in life, and her future relationships.

This is a huge landmark novel in lesbian literary history, and I wanted to review it on its own merits, rather than “for being one of the first lesbian pulp fiction books that actually thinks lesbians are okay”.  

Luckily, it was a fun read, and still has plenty for modern readers to identify with.

It opens with Beebo’s tremulous arrival in Greenwich Village, New York, and her subsequent adoption by Jack. Jack's a generous soul who puts her up, finds her work, and gradually persuades her to come out.

 It takes a bit more obvious hint dropping for her to realize that he's gay too!

And then the story takes on a faster and more erratic pace, as she crosses paths with the scheming and malicious Mona and Pete, falls in bed with gentle, broken Paula, and falls hard for the gorgeous, erratic and selfish film star Venus.

Torn between loyalty and love, she becomes closer to the dysfunctional bombshell and becomes a friend to her son, Toby, who is lonely and disillusioned - gradually helping to bring the mother and son together. Venus finds that she actually, really cares about Beebo and spirits her away to California, for a life of doomed passion and secrecy.

 Because of course, a lesbian (sorry - Lesbian) affair would be a disaster for a starlet like Venus.

Cover Art by Naiad Press - 1983

Inevitably it all comes crashing down, through impetuousness and gossip initiated by Venus' frustrated husband aided by the helping hands of the two troublemakers Beebo left back in New York. Beebo is forced to return, but finds her affection for Paula has grown to love, and she walks easily back into her former lover's arms.

The entire book had a Great Gatsbyish feel. Set in the 1950s, there was a dated, delusional 'American Dream' feeling to everything. Farm girl Beebo arrives in free, civilized, and very gay, Greenwich Village. Rich and famous Venus and Leo live by their own rules, and are ruled even more by Society.

And they reminded me a lot of Tom and Daisy, from Gatsby.

It's a captivating, worrisome, tragic, lovely book. And yes, it's pulp fiction, all about colorful characters making friends and enemies of each other, but it isn't garish. The storyline is a bit erratic, and driven more by the supporting characters than Beebo, but I can easily imagine most of it happening today.

Beebo is a young and stereotypical 'mannish' butch - enough to make me wonder if she was intended to be transgender. She was fairly unique, especially for books of the time, in that she worked and dressed in order to pass as a man, and mostly succeeded. 

There were a few wallbangers of prejudice and, well, datedness, but they weren't too bad, surprisingly.  Most of the discussions about 'mannishness' and femininity, some of the ways they talked about Lesbians and homosexuality, and the harassment of Beebo by her boss all set off the political correctness alarms!

And yes, 'Lesbian' was usually capitalized.

There are a few more specific examples:

The supposedly sympathetic and open-minded Leo veered from saying he wasn't prejudiced (in so many words) to decrying how unnatural Beebo appeared to him. (To be slightly fair, he was at the end of his tether and Beebo was just the last in a long string of blatant affairs from his wife). 

Cover Art by Cleis Press - 2001

The two bisexual women, Mona and Venus - or at least, the two who slept with men, it was never actually clear if they were bisexual or not, or simply using men manipulatively in accordance with their personalities - were not particularly nice people. Beebo had to learn the hard lesson of not being accepted all over again, and lived with guilt over how her 'unnaturalness' had burdened her father.

But mostly, the dated elements don't interfere with the story - it feels nice and historical, but the gayness is not presented as bad, just difficult to understand for outsiders... and the path to a whole new realm, that Beebo is barely discovering.

Essentially, it's Beebo's coming of age novel.

And I definitely recommend it.

I'd give this classic story a 4.7 on the Rainbow Scale. It's light entertainment that took a huge historical step forward for queer rights, has a plot that mostly follows Beebo as she bounces from one woman back to another, and is kept me reading right to the end. Oh, And a bonus .2 for the suprisingly tender love scenes. 

So, if you're keeping score, that's an overall Rainbow Scale Rating of 4.9 for the ground breaking piece of historical Lesfic.

Stop by http://www.goodlesbianbooks.com to read more reviews by The Cat and her co-blogger, Cress.

Misfortune's Friend by Sarah Aldridge

Book:  Misfortune’s Friend

Author:  Sarah Aldridge

Publisher:  A&M Books

IT IS MY PROFOUND HONOR TO ANNOUNCE THAT FAY JACOBS OF A&M BOOKS HAS MADE MISFORTUNE'S FRIEND BY LEGENDARY AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER, SARAH ALDRIDGE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN E-BOOK FORMAT. 

Many contemporary lesbian fiction authors and readers will likely read the announcement above, and ask “who is she and why is this important to me?” 

The answer is simple and complicated all at once – Sarah Aldridge was a pioneer, a visionary, and an icon.  She was strong, principled, and passionate.  And, perhaps most importantly of all, she gave each and every one of us the birthright of Happily Ever After.

For those not familiar with Ms. Aldridge, I want to provide some background on this fierce and amazing woman, and why the availability of Misfortune’s Friend in e-book format is so significant.

Sarah Aldridge was the pen name of Anyda Marchant, attorney, publisher and novelist.

Sarah Aldridge
Photo courtesy of A&M Books

Born in Rio de Janeiro, she moved with her family to Washington, D.C. as a child. In 1933 she earned a law degree from the National University of Washington (now George Washington University), she was admitted to practice in Virginia and DC, and before the U.S. Court of Claims and the U. S. Supreme Court.

While a law student, Ms. Marchant worked as an assistant to American suffragist and women’s rights pioneer Alice Paul, who was performing early research for an Equal Rights Amendment.   During World War II, she was appointed Assistant in the Law Library of Congress, she became one of the first women attorneys at the law firm now known as Covington & Burling, and eventually she moved to the World Bank where she spent 18 years. Later in life, she organized the very first National Organization of Women (NOW) presence in Delaware.

In 1972 Anyda Marchant was forced to retire from practicing law due to health concerns. It was then that the 61-year-old and her life partner, Muriel Crawford, undertook an artistic journey that forever changed how and what lesbians read.  The two women founded the Naiad Press and published Sarah Aldridge’s first novel, The Latecomer.

Many of us over the age of thirty-five recognize Naiad Press as the Gold Standard for the feminist and lesbian literature of our early lives.  Ms. Marchant served as President of Naiad from its inception until the mid-1990’s, when she and Ms. Crawford withdrew from the company, and began their own publishing entity, A&M Books. Naiad published the first eleven Sarah Aldridge novels and A&M Books published the last three.  Her final novel, Oh Mistress Mine was released when the author was 92. 


An Epic Love Story
Photo courtesy of A&M Books

In January 2006, Anyda Marchant passed away, two weeks shy of her 95th birthday. Her life partner of 57 years, Muriel Crawford, followed her in death only four months later.

A&M Books continues under the capable leadership of Managing Editor Fay Jacobs, who proudly continues to publish and carry on the Naiad/A&M Books legacy started by Mses. Marchant and Crawford.  Earlier this year she released All True Lovers, the first Sarah Aldridge novel to be converted into e-book format.

Misfortune's Friend is the 7th Sarah Aldridge novel, and the one the author considered her very personal favorite - this is why it is not just an honor but a special privilege for me to share in its e-book release.

The beautiful and somewhat edgy story of Misfortune's Friend is set in Baltimore, Washington, and London just before World War II.  14-year old Althea is born into wealth, but disabled by childhood polio and emotionally abandoned by an extended family.   Arriving on the doorstep of her Aunt Marjorie, her life begins to change in ways she never imagined.  Going abroad for college, Althea meets Fern, a strong, restless woman who is aimlessly navigating the political and racial turmoil of pre-World War II Europe.   The two young women find a deep and lasting intimacy that propels Althea to finally understand that Aunt Marjorie is a lesbian with an unrequited love for the compassionate do-gooder, Mrs. Henshaw. It is through the love of Althea and Fern that Mrs. Henshaw realizes her oversights with the affections of Aunt Marjorie, and seeks to reconcile the decades-long mistakes and pain.

Misfortune’s Friend is a classic Sarah Aldridge historical romance, written in her beautiful and proper lyrical style.  Her characters are often flawed but indispensible, drawing the reader into a world that celebrates the love of women for each other.  They live and breathe, they are intelligent and opinionated, and they don’t apologize to the world around them for owning their love. 

Ms. Aldridge influenced many of today's most esteemed lesbian authors, not only with her stories, but with her words, her actions, and her indelible strength.  Every time we pick up a piece of contemporary lesbian fiction, the DNA of Sarah Aldridge can be found deep within its pages.  Her writing style is not typical of many books published today, but this only adds to her legacy. 

As a lasting tribute to her vast and varied contributions to lesbian literature and publishing, Sarah Aldridge was awarded the Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award posthumously in June 2007.

There is no way I can place a Rainbow Scale rating on Misfortune’s Friend.  Some authors transcend any type of rating or rank order - this author is one of those very special few. 

Anyda Marchant never conceived that her Sarah Aldridge novels would one day, so soon after her passing, be made available to a new generation of lesfic authors and fans in electronic format.  As a self-professed connoisseur of the very best of lesbian literature, I encourage readers to open their minds and their libraries to the books of this beautiful and immortal author, and embrace and explore an important piece of our collective lesbian literature history.

A&M Book provided a courtesy copy of Misfortune's Friend for my review -  e-book versions of Sarah Aldridge novels are currently available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.