Florence Stonebraker (1896-1977) was a prolific American writer of both straightforward romance fiction and sleaze fiction. Her sleaze novels were romances that added hints of sleaziness and a lot of melodrama and accepted that sex was a part of romance. That was enough to make a book like Three Men and a Mistress scandalous in 1950.
Sue Harris was brought up in the very staid very respectable very stuffy little town of Bradmont. She was about to jump into bed with her boy friend Frankie Stolter when her father walked in. He accused Sue of being a slut and threw her out of the house. What rankled for Sue was the she never had the chance of actually doing anything. She was labelled a tramp when in fact she was still a virgin.
Sue decided she had had enough of her father and enough of Bradmont. She headed for the big city. For a while she really was a tramp, until she met millionaire Texan Luke Wilson. She is now Luke’s mistress but they have settled down into cosy domesticity and Sue is entirely faithful to him.
Five years later she returns to her home town when she is told that her father is broke. She wants to help him out financially, not out of love but out of revenge. She loves the idea that her father will have to accept financial help from his now very rich tramp daughter.
Sue decides to celebrate her return home by looking up Frankie Stolter. She wants to find out if she still has the hots for him. She discovers that she no longer feels anything at all for him. She is also reunited with her sister Retta. The two sisters have always hate one another and that hatred has grown even more intense. Retta is outwardly respectable but she is a liar and a hypocrite.
As is the case with other early 50s sleaze novels there is plenty of sex happening between the characters but it all takes place offstage as it were. On the other hand sex is certainly a major motivating force for the various characters.
It’s not the only motivation. Retta is driven by spite and jealousy. Dick Durant is driven by lust, but much more strongly by selfishness and ambition. Luke was initially drawn to Sue by sex but he has fallen genuinely in love with her.
Sue’s motivations are complicated. Sex plays a part but she’s also driven by a sense of restlessness, a certain amount of self-doubt and to a considerable degree by unrealistic expectations. There’s a definite streak of self-destructiveness as well.
What really made books like this scandalous was that they didn’t necessarily demonise women like Sue. Sue is not demonised at all. She thinks of herself as a bad girl but she isn’t really. She has some growing up to do. Her judgment as far as men are concerned could use some improvement. Most all she needs to figure out what she really wants from a man, and she needs to realise that she is entitled to happiness.
She does evolve as the story progresses, shedding a few illusions and learning more about herself. The question is whether she can learn enough in time to avert disaster.
This is romantic melodrama but with at least some emotional complexity.
The reader will find Sue exasperating at times but it’s impossible to dislike her. She makes mistakes because she’s human, and because people do allow sex to cloud their judgment.
This book doesn’t have much of an axe to grind. It does take a few swipes at small-town hypocrisy and at Hollywood shallowness but for the most part it’s blessedly free of heavy-handed social commentary or moralising. The total lack of moralising is particularly welcome.
On the whole Three Men and a Mistress is an enjoyable read if you enjoy romantic melodrama. Recommended.
Armchair Fiction have reprinted this novel in paperback in their Scandalous Classics series.
I’ve also reviewed Stonebraker’s excellent Reno Tramp as well as Flesh Is Weak (which is also pretty good).
I’ve also reviewed Stonebraker’s excellent Reno Tramp as well as Flesh Is Weak (which is also pretty good).
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