Unnatural

by Sloane Britain

A vivid novel of forbidden love, a lesbian pulp fiction classic, back-in-print after sixty years Allison loved Lydia. She loved her so much that sometimes she thought it was wrong. She felt that there must be something sinful about a love so strong it blotted out everything else. Lydia was Allison's whole life... until one night, when she went to a wild, bohemian party and met Cal Staton. He certainly seemed interested… and everyone was always telling her to settle down… but Cal Staton was a man, and men had hurt her so much. Perhaps she would be better off staying with Lydia, who turned the world away when she took her in her arms. Lydia, who could make her melt with a glance… and climb to the peaks of ecstasy with a just a caress. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sloane Britain aka Sloan Britton was the pseudonym of Elaine Williams, aka Elaine H. Cumming (1932-1963), who was an editor at Midwood-Tower and a ground-breaking author of lesbian pulp fiction. She was killed in a car accident in Red Hook, NY on December 23, 1963, after attending a party. She left behind behind a husband and four children.

Genres: Lesbian

164 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2011

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this 1960 lesbian pulp in the oxfam by our new flat. It was definitely more brutal than other lesbian pulps I've read from around that time. To start with our heroine was in an incredibly abusive relationship, emotionally, physically and even sexually, as her girlfriend got kicks pimping her out to men.
And there was also a lot of self loathing, both lesbians felt like they still needed men to be somehow sexually satisfied. And the "happy ending" of the book, is that conversion therapy is possible to make lesbians "normal".
And yet despite that there was something honest about this. I recognised the emotions of the characters, the needing to get drunk, the beat parties. It was all very real despite all the internalised homophobia that was SO rife in it. I'm now reading a recently published trans novel and I'm seeing a lot of the same things in that that I did in this.
Having read so many new queer books lately where characters are just left to be queer it was an interesting slice of history to go back and read this. It was definitely much harder to be queer in this book that Ann Bannon or Katherine Forrest. But I'm really curious now to read more of the author's works. As apparently some of them did actually have happy lesbian couples in them.

[Lonely Witch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puntuación: ♡♡♡
Motivo de lectura: Mundo sáfico a explorar.
Lectura/Relectura: Lectura
Biblioteca: Digital.

Me gustó cómo se exploró la dinámica familiar y su relación para la elección de pareja. La protagonista lidio con una madre abusiva que reencontró en su pareja, y no me refiero únicamente a la tormentosa vida con Lidia, sino también a la que encontró el Cal, porque es igualmente negligente a nivel emocional.

Evidentemente este libro no es una novela romántica, sino que deja entrever entre sus páginas una historia más profunda, en relación a los traumas o patrones familiares, el tipo de apego en la infancia, la violencia económica y psicológica que se ejerce en la víctima, la "lucidez" para abandonar una relación abusiva solo para cambiarla por otra. Allison es un personaje con quien puedes empatizar, porque al final lo que ella quiere, solo es amor. Sin embargo, cuando una no sabe lo que es, lo que quiere o cuál es la forma sana de este "amor", termina perdiéndose a sí misma y aceptando migajas.

Fue un libro que me regaló una historia diferente a la que esperaba, pero que me fascinó más por lo que pude encontrar en ella.