Despite its provocative title, the heroine of the forgotten bestselling 1928 novel, Bad Girl by Viña Delmar, wasn’t at all as naughty as the pulp cover or film poster would suggest.

In the 1920s, urban American women experimented with sexual freedom more openly than ever. Popular novels by writers — male and female — held up a mirror to the times.

Dorothy, or “Dot,” as she’s familiarly called, succumbs to one instance of premarital sex on a second date. Eddie (who’s not a bad sort, but not the sharpest tool in the shed) offers to make her “respectable.” The two marry after what seems like an acquaintance of mere days.

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