Odd Girl Out (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | Ann Bannon |
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| Cover artist | Barrye Phillips |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Beebo Brinker Chronicles |
| Genre | Lesbian pulp fiction |
| Publisher | Gold Medal Books |
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Publication date
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1957 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | (2001 edition) |
| OCLC | 1418753 (2001 edition) |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.A495 O33 2001 |
| Followed by | I Am a Woman |
Odd Girl Out is a lesbian pulp fiction novel written in 1957 by Ann Bannon (pseudonym of Ann Weldy). It is the first in a series of pulp fiction novels that eventually came to be known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. It was originally published in 1957 by Gold Medal Books, again in 1983 by Naiad Press, and again in 2001 by Cleis Press. Each edition was adorned with a different cover. Not until 1983 did author Ann Bannon learn that her first novel was the second best-selling paperback of 1957.
Bannon's original story submitted to Gold Medal Books was about events in a sorority, in which a subplot involved an affair two women were having. Her editor handed it back to her and told her to focus on the two women. When she returned to the editor, the book was published without changing a word of her second version, and it became Odd Girl Out. As Bannon explained in the 2001 edition forward, Gold Medal Press publishers had control over the cover art and the title. Bannon's publisher titled the book. Lesbian pulp fiction books usually showed suggestive art with obscure titles that hinted at what the subject matter was inside.
Ann Bannon was inspired to write her books after reading Spring Fire by Vin Packer and The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. In fact, it was Marijane Meaker (Vin Packer's real name) that Bannon wrote to and who introduced her to her publisher at Gold Medal Books. Bannon was 22 years old when she began writing Odd Girl Out.
Laura Landon is a sheltered freshman at a fictional university in a midwestern town. Intensely shy and introverted, she is drawn to the president of the Student Union, Beth Cullison. Beth is outgoing and friendly, experienced socially (with men, particularly) but feels a void in her life. She doesn't understand how the other girls are so fulfilled by the men in their lives, despite having tried. Every time she allows herself to be intimate with one, she breaks it off out of disappointment.
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