Pulp by Robin Talley

​I’ve tried to read Robin Talley’s books in the past and haven’t really got on with them. I’m not sure why I picked this one up, other than that I read Odd Girl Out not so long ago and was interested in the fifties lesbian pulp phenomenon. I’m really glad I did pick it up though because it turned out to be such a good read. 

So, lesbian pulp books were available in drugstores and stations in the US or basically anywhere that had those spinner racks of books in the fifties and up until the mid sixties. They were freely available everywhere, despite homosexuality being illegal and the whole McCarthy witch hunts being held for anyone who didn’t ‘conform’. 

The book is split between two girls in the fifties, one of whom is an aspiring lesbian pulp writer, who fall in love but have to hide their burgeoning relationship from everyone (especially as one of them works for the government) and a girl in the present time who is a lesbian and out and has support and acceptance in spades and decides to look at lesbian pulp books as part of her senior year project. 

I don’t want to say too much about the plot but needless to say the two timelines converge and show us the differences in society and how far we have come. 

I enjoyed this book so much. It really taught me a lot. 

5 stars