We like the fiction of Charles Williams quite a bit, so after reading six of his novels we thought we’d go all the way back to his debut, 1951’s Hill Girl. The hill girl of the title is eighteen year-old Angelina, who has the temerity to actually enjoy sex, and compounds this sin by hooking up with handsome but married Lee Crane. This is horrifying to Lee’s brother Bob, who not only wants what’s best for his sibling, but also counts Lee’s wife as one of his best friends. Thus this affair simply cannot stand. But Lee can’t let Angelina go for reasons that can be best summarized this way: she’s insanely hot and amazing in the sack. When Angelina’s fundamentalist father literally comes after Lee with a shotgun Angelina ends up under Bob’s protection, and shortly afterward under Bob.
Hey, girls just wanna have fun, right? So what develops here is a battle between two brothers over ownership of a woman’s body. To his credit, Bob comes to the realization that whatever Angelina did before she was involved with him is none of his fuckin’ business, even if the fuckin’ was with his brother; but Lee never quite sees the light, even though he’s married to a beautiful and wonderful woman. His obsession with Angelina will cost someone dearly. Hill Girl is miles away from Williams’ nautical adventures, an interesting window onto sexual attitudes of the 1950s, and solidly put together as well. That’s probably why it sold a million copies and launched his career. The cover art for this Gold Medal edition is by Barye Phillips.
