_Three Women._ pbo Beacon Books 1958. Good and sympathetic story of a young girl involved with a basically decent older woman, a lesbian, Byrne. Unfortunately Byrne is deeply involved with, and obligated to, her insane cousin Greta, and the affair ends in tragedy, leaving young Paula to marry her faithful boy friend. The lesbian interlude, however, is treated not as a “twisted love in the shadows” or any such cliche matter, but simply as a human relationship, in its total effect on Paula’s personality; and she always remembers Byrne with affectionate regret. Excellent of kind.
_The Obsessed._ Newstand Library Magenta Books, 1959. The psychoanalysis of a nymphomaniac, including an affair with her boy-friend’s lesbian sister. Not nearly as good as March Hastings' other books, and much more dedicated to sexy scenes at the expense of character and situation. Evening waster—almost scv. (It should be noted that some paperback publishers insist on a specified number of sex scenes, and in such a book as this one can almost hear the weary sigh with which the author abandons his story, which is going well, and stops everything for another measured dose of sexy writing for the nitwit audience.)
HECHT, BEN. _The Sensualists._ Messner, 1959, pbr Dell 1959. A great deal of advance publicity built this up to a best-seller. Highly sensational shock-stuff; a supposedly happily-married woman discovers her husband is having an affair with a singer, Liza. When she comes in contact with Liza, however, she realizes that Liza is a lesbian, having affairs with men for camouflage purposes, and is soon herself captivated by Liza. From here events build up to highly shocking climaxes, including a ghastly murder. Not to be read after dark.
HEMINGWAY, ERNEST. “The Sea Change” ss in _The Fifth Column and the First 49 Stories_, P. F. Collier & Son, 1938. This volume also contains two stories dealing with male homosexuality: “A Simple Inquiry” and “Mother of a Queen.”
HELLMAN, LILLIAN. _The Children’s Hour._ Knopf, 1934. Also Random House 1942; also in Burns-Mantle, Best Plays of 1934-35. A rumor of lesbianism (unfounded) wrecks a school, and the lives of the women who own and manage it.
HENRY, JOAN. _Women in Prison._ Doubleday 1952, pbr Permabooks 1953. This is non-fiction, autobiographical account of a woman’s experience in two English prisons. Very good.