Monica Nolan’s book, Dolly Dingle Lesbian Landlady is a hidden treasure. I discovered the book at Provincetown’s East End Books back in 2018. The book cover enticed me. A woman in a red negligee looking at a brunette (sisters of Sappho?) at Christmas time hanging ornaments on a tree in some interesting house with a tall Christmas tree and winding staircase. At the bottom of the book cover, there was the sentence: “She tempted her tenants with more than room and board…” But I was hooked upon reading the first page:
“Ho, ho, ho,” chortled the girl in the corridor, like a female Santa Clause.
Dolly startled awake from an uneasy sleep. She’s been dreaming she was in bed with a naked woman who wouldn’t stop kissing her. In the dream she’d been torn between lust and a lassitude that made her eyes close, despite the affectionate attentions of her naked friend….
Her pajamas were twisted uncomfortably around her midriff. Dolly tried to straighten them and discovered she was wearing her girdle, and nothing else. She put a hand on the soft flesh under her jaw. Good lord, she must have been far gone when she fell into bed! She hadn’t even put on her chin guard.”
The girl in the corridor giggled again, and the sound went through Dolly’s head like a chainsaw through an old hickory stump. “Don’t make me laugh,” said Dolly’s unseen tormentor. “I have the hiccups!”
Was she one of Netta’s students? The girls who roomed on the fifth floor of the Magdalena Arms were quiet types – Dolly excepted. This rowdy character in the corridor must be some delinquent protégée the dedicated teacher across the hall had brought home from her job at the Eleanor Roosevelt School for Troubled Girls.”
Not only is the book a fun read, but it is also well-written. Nolan’s simple economy of words is her strength. She gives just enough detail for what the reader needs to know at that moment in the story without the weight of unnecessary details. One can see Nolan’s use of alliteration (lust and a lassitude, girl in the corridor giggled, have the hiccups, character in the corridor) and simile (like a chainsaw through an old hickory stump) and how these tools make the narrative really interesting. In these few sentences, we see the setting and the reader is left with such questions, such as: Why does Dolly wear a chin guard? Why does anyone wear a chin guard? Why is she in some room with some stranger? Who is Netta? What is the Eleanor Roosevelt School for Troubled Girls? Nolan asks questions that make the reader want desperately, at least this one anyway, to find out. All these elements swirled together in the right concoction that gives the narrative the right touch. Nolan’s mastery of language sets the right balance between plot and character (Dolly’s introspection is essential), and this drives the story forward in an interesting way.
Dolly Dingle, or her born name, Dorian Dingle, is an actress and has been since she was a teenager, starring in the family television show, “Meet the Jarvises.” But at the beginning of this story, Dolly’s acting career is on the skids as she is reduced to playing, the almost nonexistent role of Nurse Hamilton on the television soap opera, “A Single Candle.” And her acting comes to a complete standstill (spoiler alert just a few words away, but skip to next paragraph if you want to wait) when she is strangled by an unruly patient (the network needed someone of Dolly’s level of talent and Dolly was the only one to make the scene believable).
But Dolly is not unemployed for long when Mrs. Dewitt, Magdalena Arm’s house mother falls (drunkenly), breaks a hip and is hospitalized for a few months. Dolly comes to the rescue when she takes over as landlady, with the approval, of course, from the board of trustees who owns the Arm’s building. And get out of Dolly’s way as she makes some much-needed repairs along the way (the elevator has not worked for years). Everything seems to be going along okay until Dolly has an awful encounter in the Magdalena Arms basement: wood rot! This finding places anyone in the kitchen at risk for tragic consequences because of the faulty floor that could give way at any moment. This discovery sets in motion Dolly’s scheme to hide the fact while secretly trying to raise funds to make the necessary repair. But the wrong one(s) find out about this secret and tries to thwart Dolly’s efforts many times and shut the whole place down. But who would do such a thing and why?
Dolly Dingle Lesbian Landlady is Monica Nolan’s homage to the lesbian pulp novels of the 1960s. Nolan delivers a humorous but respectful take, not galloping into exposition in the book’s few sexual scenes, but gives the right amount of narrative to interest the reader but leaving more details to the reader’s imagination. The book also gives the reader a glimpse into the lives of these lesbians only a few years before the Stonewall Riots in 1969. During the 1960s, women did not have the career opportunities that they have today. And they get a little help from Miss Watkins, a career girl guidance counselor, who administers no other than the ‘Spindle Janska Penchant Assessment test.’ This test is a geiger counter for unearthing the book’s character’s hidden career strengths, just waiting to be discovered.
When I read and reread this book, I feel as if I am among friends. And if you want fun, mystery, camaraderie, brief descriptions of home repairs, a little ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ flavor thrown in, a primer on excellent storytelling, and some playful sex, you’ve come to the right book. Enjoy!
Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady Career Girl #4
by Monica Nolan
Published by: Kensington
Monica Nolan was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She was educated at St. Jerome’s parochial school, St. Ignatius College Prep, Bryn Mawr College, and San Francisco State University, where she received an MFA in Cinema. Monica has lived and worked in Alaska, New York, Chicago, and Ruthieres, France. She is the author of Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary and co-author with Alisa Surkis of The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories. She currently lives in San Francisco, California.
Other Titles…..
Joel Craig loves books, writes at night time, and lives with his musician husband Donovan Holden, who he married twice with the second time being legal. They have three black cats and a dog and live in Los Angeles. Joel is also the author of the silly science fiction graphic novel, Journey to Gaytopia. |
Labels: 2022, Dolly Dingle Lesbian Landlady, Joel Craig, Kensington Books, Monica Nolam, review
