Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady

Career-Girl #4

by Monica Nolan

At the Magdalena Arms Residence for Women, desires are awakened, passions run hot, and love might be waiting just a few doors away. . .

Dorian "Dolly" Dingle has been footloose and flighty for long enough. At last, she's resolved to focus on her showbiz career and move out of the Magdalena Arms. Then landlady Mrs. DeWitt breaks her hip, and Dolly reluctantly agrees to fill in as temporary housemother. While she grapples with home repairs and holiday preparations, Dolly tends to the needs of her diverse tenants,

Jackie – The aspiring actress always puts on an impressive performance

Kay – Dolly's old friend is an accomplished clarinetist--and she's hoping they'll make sweet music together. . .

Arlene – She's a buxom theater designer with some very dramatic secrets

Ramona – The former bad girl is back in Bay City and making tongues wag again

When the high-spirited residents learn of a scheme to shut down their beloved rooming house, they rally together to raise funds. Can a Christmas variety show save the only home Dolly has ever known? And will she finally find the perfect girl to occupy her heart?

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, Humor, Drama

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Monica Nolan is the author of Lois Lenz Lesbian Secretary, Bobby Blanchard Lesbian Gym Teacher, Maxie Mainwaring Lesbian Dilettante, and Dolly Dingle Lesbian Landlady which will hit the shelves October, 2014. She and co-author Alisa Surkis were nominated for a Lambda Literary award for The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories, which won the Diagram Prize for oddest title. She blogs about lesbian pulp fiction at Pulp and Pep. She has experience in three out of four of the careers she's written about.

Reviews

[Tuulia Saaritsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sexual metaphors involve home repair. There is nothing about this that I don't love.

[Corrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorian "Dolly" Dingle has been in showbiz since she was 4. Forever chasing that illusive big career break, she now finds herself – at age 35 - a tad too long in the tooth to play the ingénue. She is one of the long-time residents of the Magdalena Arms Residence for Women

When landlady Mrs. DeWitt breaks her hip, Dolly reluctantly agrees to fill in as temporary housemother (hey, it’s a paying job after all and it gives her some time to adjust her acting career goals). To keep busy, Dolly grapples with home repairs and holiday preparations and sees to the needs of her diverse tenants.

Magdalena Arms’ board of trustees – and Mrs. Putney-Potter in particular – is looking for a way out of the upkeep of this white elephant. When Dolly discovers that the building‘s problems are running deeper than some superficial cosmetics, she fears this is enough reason for the trustees to shut them down. So after a long hard think about how to drum up money for repairs Dolly gets a brilliant idea. Like a regular Andy Hardy they are going to put up a show! The Arms has enough creative talent to pull it off. So plans are made and tickets are sold and it looks like everything will work out fine. But then the money goes missing…

Dolly Dingle: Lesbian Landlady is a lot of campy 60ies fun. You can’t help but fall in love with Dolly, our problem-solving, hard-working heroine with a heart of gold. Add the colorful cast of residents of the Magdalena Arms, home repairs, a love triangle, lots of gin, a mystery, an evil trustee with a dark secret, brutal betrayal, a dramatic aftermath and we’re well on our way! And the best thing? Author Monica Nolan wrote four of these little gems in the Career-Girls series. Go read them all!

f/f

Themes: lesbian pulp at its best, I want a Dolly for myself, Mrs. Putney-Potter is a wiley one, Oh choices choices… Kay or Arlene, who took the money? And who is the stool-pigeon? Shades of It’s a Wonderful Life.

5 stars

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Color me pleasantly surprised! I've known of this series for a while, but never picked any of them up since I thought the humor and sexuality would be too over the top. But I was looking for something easy, queer, and Christmassy to read and decided to give this a try. Though this book was not serious by any means, there was a sincerity to it, which I appreciated! Dolly Dingle was a heroine I could root for. Also, I love a boarding house story! I've written one myself, after all.

3.5 stars. I'm rounding up because it's nice to enjoy something more than I thought I would.

[Melanie Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content Warning: the book uses the word "Negro" to maintain contemporary language.

Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady by Monica Nolan is the last of the Lesbian Career Girls series. That is, so far. I wrote to Nolan on Facebook to discover she's got another one in the works . . . but also a day job in the way.

The Lesbian Career Girl books are interesting in that they mimic 1960s pulp novels. I included some pictures of pulp novels and a brief discussion in my review of Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary. You can read the 2nd book, Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher, as a stand-alone novel, but it's best to read Lois Lenz (#1); Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante (#3); and Dolly Dingle (#4) in order.

If I've totally lost you, please read my review below to get a sense of how fun a pulp novel satire can be!

Dolly Dingle was a child actress who is still trying to maintain her career in her 30s. She lives in a a boarding house called the Magdalena Arms for young women who have moved to the big city and whose parents want someone to watch their little girls. Surprise -- the house is full of lesbians! The book implies Dolly moved in when she was a young woman, but never left. So, when their aging alcoholic housemother, Mrs. DeWitt, falls and breaks her hip, it's only natural that veteran boarder Dolly take over. Besides, she's old enough that the only acting role she can get anymore is playing someone's mother! What an insult! But the board of trustees for the Arms is threatening to shut the place down in the name of progress. Can Dolly save the Arms? Can she find her right career path? Will she find a girl to love along the way?

Dolly is a heartier character that the three previous titular women. She's a bit older, wiser, and more determined, so I took a liking to her. The plot had a mystery like all of the Lesbian Career Girl books, but this one was less convoluted. Honestly, I was confused at the end of Maxie Mainwaring because the mystery got so tangled among so many characters. Dolly was a fantastically plotted last book.

There are many sexual scenes in Dolly Dingle, but Nolan never gets overly descriptive. Instead, she relies on fun language and suggestion to let you know what's happening. This is especially funny when Dolly gets hot and heavy with a clarinet player -- the music puns abound!

Puns and metaphors were a great way to show me what Dolly was thinking in a playful, creative way:

But Arlene was so lovely and troubled, the housemother side of Dolly couldn't bear to hurt her. Her polished sheen reminded the landlady of an out-of-season peach you purchased at the supermarket; you couldn't believe something that looked so perfect wouldn't taste good, and you wondered if it just needed time to ripen.

Notice how sexual, yet not sexual, the language is. The use of alliteration also makes sexual scenes playful: "With difficulty, Dolly pulled away from the carnally-minded carrot top . . ."

The over-use of alliteration is purposeful and amazingly done in all four Lesbian Career Girls books, but I have to say, Nolan cranked the dial to 11 in Dolly Dingle. Here's an extreme example from a time when Dolly has called Maxie, who now lives in France, to ask to borrow some money, but Maxie has spent it all opening a restaurant called Buffalo Girls (in France!):

She wished the dabbling dilettante every success in her quixotic quest to conquer the critical palates of Paris.

Now, I couldn't quit laughing at how silly this line is -- especially since I was reading the book aloud to my husband, one chapter each night! The entire book isn't written this way, though, so don't panic if you fear a novel of tongue twisters.

The Lesbian Career Girl series has been a great addition to my personal library, and as soon as Monica Nolan writes another one, I'm going to be sure to buy it and support her work. I know a lot of my blog friends like to read the newest bestselling novel that's getting a lot of press, but if you can support (buy the book, ask your library to get it, request it for a present) smaller presses for the amazing, unique work they're doing, you can add some meaningful press of your own.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't help but love this series. The books are campy and ridiculous and stretch the bounds of credulity, but they're fun. Quite reminiscent of Mabel Maney's books, too, for anyone looking for a bit more recently written lesbian pulp fiction. (I for one could always use a little more lesbian pulp fiction in my life...)

I'm not sure this is actually my favourite of the series. Perhaps Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary, for being the first one I read? But I hope there will be more to follow.

[shrug city · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, how is this so good? I suspect part of it is the satisfaction of Dolly's making the Arms a real home. Even though her lovers are uninteresting and the plot is bizarre... hell, Dolly's pretty fantastic.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta love this book! Thanks for choosing me as a Goodreads winner. I wouldn't have found this great writer otherwise...

Monica effortlessly places humor throughout this novel and almost makes me want to pack my bags an move in just to get some sort of life other than my own humdrum life! lol Now I need to find more of this author's books so that I can get my fix!

[Gina Rheault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muriel Spark introduced me to what I call the "rooming house" genre. Her rooming houses were settings for mysteries associated with the inhabitants: quirky transients, respectables, and some who had lingered way too long on the way to their real lives. Action built around bright, young women aspiring to fairy tale futures. Shenanigans, especially the naughty sexual variety, were never discussed explicitly. Instead they were suggested in whispers and giggles over tea and cocktails.

So, I hoped Dolly Dingle would be a Sparkian pulp comic take on a rooming house with lesbian leanings. And DDLL does try to be that. But it focuses so much on lesbians, lesbian flirting, lesbian sex that, rich characters and romance never emerged for me. If the lesbian emphasis had made Dolly Dingle madam of a lesbian bordello, that too could have been an interesting book.

But a rooming house is not exactly a bordello, and a bordello is not exactly a rooming house. Both can be interesting settings for fascinating characters, scenes, and stories. But Dolly Dingle was just a landlady with a bunch of lesbians and much as I loved the title -- who can resist DDLL? -- the book never took off for me. Let's blame Muriel Spark. She spoiled me....

[Elliot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genre: historical fiction
1 LGBTQ main character: lesbian
Many LGBTQ side characters: also lesbian

Importance of identities to plot: 1/5
Romance: 2/5
Coming out: no

Notes: A good, light holiday read full of tropes and alliteration. There is a bit of a love triangle for the main character, but romance wasn’t the heart of the story.

[Dana Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lighthearted, cozy read with a nice Christmassy feeling but can still be enjoyed outside of Christmas. Not really pulpy at all, as the cover would suggest. Some light romantic scenes and generally just a cool feeling of young professionals figuring out life while cohabitating in a women’s boarding house.

[April Shewry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, easy read. I love the writing style and the characters. The plot is a little lacking at some points - the romance between Kay and Dolly seems to spring from nowhere; Dolly’s conflict around giving up acting is weirdly low stakes since it seems like her acting career is over anyway - but overall a very enjoyable read!

[Cynthia Janda · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a silly book. There’s more description on the house repairs than the characters themselves. And the love scenes don’t make sense, either romantically or physically. The characters physical positions in contrast to each don’t work. I’m giving this book 2 stars because, it’s so bad it’s silly.

[C Patt · Rating 3 out of 5]

-a tad beat for beat but what else do you expect from a holiday romp
-overall enjoyed
-the ending had me going wtf is going on?? but I was along for the ride
-all tied up in a neat little bow exactly as it should
-I recommend you all read around Christmas time

[Jill Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I for sure would live at the Arm!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trashy fun.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got interesting at page 212 of 247 and was wholesomely silly - was really hoping for a lot more sex, also.

[mara]

there is something so personal about lesbians at christmas time it’s a shame this book was a little dull

[Yuuto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book, I need to check out the others in the series.

[maplemarcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully campy and lighthearted!

[Delilah]

CAMP!!!

get kay a new clarinet though

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book through goodreads book giveaways and have not made any monetary from my review

I can't say I loved this book, but it's wasn't bad.

This book follows Dolly, an out of work actress, who suddenly finds herself as the landlady of a rooming house for girls. The house is in ill repair, in need of tenants and scheduled to be torn down to build a new apartments.
Dolly uses her handy lady repair skills to save the rooming house from destruction and new found house mother skills to take care of the ladies in the house. Dolly has lots of ups and downs along the way, but in the end finds what her true passion in life is.

This book was a light quick easy read.

[Abilouise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this cute bubblegum series that goes with the style of old-school lesbian pulp novels but guess what? Nobody commits suicide.

[C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A satisfying update on the career girls

I adore these books, and was glad of the chance to catch up with the characters--especially former housekeeper and criminal Ramona.

[Jayde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author tries too hard, making this more of a parody of the strange sisters sort of story than a pastiche.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was a really fun read!