MARK, EDWINA. (pseud of Edwin Fadiman jr). My Sister, my Beloved. Citadel 1955, pbr Berkley 1956. Two young sisters, daughters of a drunken lush of a mother, fall into a too-close relationship as Eve, the older, protects young Sheila from their mother’s beatings and tantrums.[39] Sheila plays around and gets pregnant; mother, at the stage where alcohol will kill her, is given a big drink by Eve, who then arranges for Sheila to have an abortion and the two of them to live happily ever after; instead, Sheila marries the boy and Eve is whipped half to death by one of her mother’s gigolos. One of those books—where anything from abortion to rape is preferable to lesbianism.
+ The Odd Ones. Berkley pbo; 1959. Jean, smalltown girl running away, comes to New York and falls in with Sherri, tied to a crazy husband. Rather good and not condemnatory at all; rather restrained for a pbo, although of course it has the obligatory sexy stuff.
MARR, REED. Women without Men. Gold Medal pbo, 1956. Naive, if not too intelligent girl sent to a woman’s reformatory, encounters the usual hardening experiences—corrupt matrons, police-court-type lesbians, trusties and well-meaning officials who have their lives to live and can’t or won’t do anything to better conditions. Good of its kind.
MARSHE, RICHARD. A Woman Called Desire. (Orig. pub. 1950 under title of Wicked Woman) Berkley pbr 1959, scv.
MARSTON, JOHN. Venus With Us; a Tale of the Caesars. N. Y. Sears, 1932. pbr Universal Pub. 1953 tct The Private Life of Julius Caesar. Fast, funny, risque historical novel—or romance—with approximately six historical errors per chapter, but a lot of fun nevertheless. The scenes laid in the College of Vestals are exclusively lesbian; there are both serious, emotional affairs between women, and funny light-hearted ones in the manner of King Pausole. Good of kind.
+ MARTIN, KENNETH. Aubade. London, Chapman & Hall 1957, (m).
MASEFIELD, JOHN. Multitude and Solitude. Macmillan 1909, 1916.
MASSIE, CHRIS. The Incredible Truth. Random, N. Y. 1958, pbr Berkley 1959. Victorian husband narrates, many years afterward, his wife’s successive attachment to two woman friends.
MAUGHAM, SOMERSET. Theatre. Doubleday 1937, Bantam pbr tct Woman of the World, 1951, pbr Bantam tct Theatre 1959. Theatrical novel of a worldly actress, Julia, contains brief mention of a fat, elderly lesbian admirer who finances her works: one amusing scene where Julia’s husband advises her on how to manipulate Dolly’s feelings. Smart, brittle.
MAUPASSANT, GUY DE. Paul’s Mistress. ss in various collections including Cory, 21 Variations on a Theme.