Thirty-Four, written by Tanith Lee under the pen name Esther Garber, is the story of a young woman who runs away from home after the death of her mother. She flees England for Paris, where she has an encounter with a cross-dressing lover named Julie d’Ouest. When Julie disappears the next day, our protagonist sets off in search of her. The search for Julie d’Ouest becomes a Heroic Journey, during which the narrative becomes increasingly more metafictional. Ultimately, the story reaches outside of itself, questioning the nature of fictionality, memory, and time. Are the narrator’s memories of Julie to be trusted? Did her family really seemingly slip between the cracks of time and live in Egypt? Which life is imagined and which life is reality? Like most Tanith Lee novels, the writing is delightfully purple at times, yet never to the detriment of the story. As far as tone, I am reminded of Anais Nin’s Delta of Venus; both books are sensual, provocative, and opulent. Thirty-Four is hardly a straightforward read, but it certainly is an interesting one.

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