The original edition of A World Without Men leaves a lot to be desired, but the book itself is not nearly as bad as the cover would suggest. Despite the tawdriness and ambivalence of its appearance, A World Without Men is actually sleaze-free and much more positively slanted than other lesfic of its time.

While plenty of despair abounds, the sadness comes from each woman's tragic past and not that they both happen to be gay. Above-average writing and some nicely tender moments keep this heads above the rest. This is often a warm love story, bleak though it may be, and not the sensationalistic stuff of its fellow 1960s counterparts.

One of my favorite passages:

"The world is full of unhappy people. Kate's throat ached to think of them. People who lie in bed at night, fretting about their bills and adding up the hopeless totals...people who can't love because their hearts are dried up like last year's seapods...all the women in rented rooms with their hearts running with love and nobody to give it to."

Valerie Taylor wrote several other books in this genre, one of which a character from here appears (see Return to Lesbos.) ( )

Kate and Erika meet in a boarding house, where they are both renting rooms. Kate struggles with an addiction to alcohol, as well as dark memories from her childhood that she can't quite remember. Erika is a survivor of the Nazi camps, but she is in a better place mentally than Kate.

This book just didn't have any spark to it. I found it difficult to connect with both of the main characters, and their relationship felt rushed and contrived. I am hoping "Return to Lesbos" is better. ( )