#dorley hall

[social---moth]

i am once again on my hands and knees pleading for you (transfem) to read the sisters of dorley, it’s a story i found one day that has rapidly become my favorite book.

it’s so good and i can explain why but also just please read it it’s free on scribblehub or you can buy a physical version of the first chapters on amazon *please i care about this book*

and once you’ve read it? dm me about it, tell me what you think will happen, tell me about your favorite moment, please i need to talk about this story it makes me feel emotions i forgot i was able to feel

[selenedistress]

Basement more like BASEDment amirite girlies

[asteroidaceae]

So I figured out what was still bugging me about the Sisters of Dorley series

Which, to be clear, I have been reading and enjoying slowly over the last month and more, often with my breakfast tea or at cafes. I'd fully expected to try them and bounce off them quickly, but they've been a very positive presence in my life over the past little while and have helped me unearth a few things. I've reccomended them to loved ones, but always with hedging and qualifications that I couldn't quite fully articulate. Recently, friends who adore the series have been warning me about chapter 24. "It's a dark chapter." "Brace yourself, read it through in one sitting and then read chapter 25 for emotional closure." I took their advice, braced myself and sat down to read it. A few paragraphs in, a voice in my internal peanut gallery spoke up: "finally, meat." I took my time with chapter 24, spent most of a week slowly savouring it, was sad that this storytelling would be "over with" like my friends had said when the chapter finished. I hadn't realised until I started on this chapter how missed I'd felt by so many trans coming of age stories in books and comics. For the first time in years, maybe even a decade, I felt seen. It was a spotlight on pains that consumed years of my life, that I barely talk about with my friends and loved ones of today. It was proper catharsis. I was recently reminded of that line about good fiction comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable, and this chapter certainly did the job for me. I can understand how such a story would be too much for a lot of people. I can understand how hard it must have been for Alyson Greaves to write it, and I commend her for doing so. But now that I've read it, and since that little voice spoke up in my head early on in the chapter, I've understood why I'd felt a little emotionally wrong-footed by Dorley up to this point. To paraphrase a homestuck thing I haven't read, the meat to candy ratio of this story is pure fucked. This is the first time in a while that I feel like the story has fully delivered on the emotional stakes of the premise promised, where I've felt previous chapters pulled their punches or softened their blows at the last instant. I really hope to come across more of these moments as I keep reading, even though I doubt many of them are going to be as personal.

[aoifereal2]

Dorley is interesting because the characters go through things out of order (at least in the way I and other friends have experienced) when compared to "traditional" transition methods but still have the same experiences.

Due to the nature of Dorley hall (kidnapping eggs) the forced feminization kick-starts the transition related angst rather than the transition related angst kick-starting the medical and social transition. Compare Stephanie to Christine. Stephanie is suffering at the start of book one from intense dysphoria and the feeling that she'll never be a "real girl" even if she tried. She's aware she could be trans and that pushes her towards seeking out dorley hall (i.e., an achievable means of transition). Christine, on the other hand, was unaware she could be transgender until she was kidnapped and forced to medically transition, at which point she begins to feel the transgender feelings she has.

The horror that dorley girls are subjected to in the basement is a reflection of all the different ways of and causes of suffering inflicted upon trans women in the UK. For Stephanie, the suffering is inflicted on her due to a medical system that has failed her, a 5 year waiting list to begin treatment and private or self-medicated treatment prohibitively expensive. It takes the form of having to hide who you are while still being oppressed and targeted for it, and guilt when you finally receive treatment. For Christine, for Melissa, it's the lack of education and knowledge about trans people in the general public, and particularly the fact that many people do not realise that they Can Be Trans, that causes their suffering. And it takes the form of having things change about you and not knowing why or how they're making you feel bad, while being stuck in an unsafe environment you can't escape.

[krissy-n-kaicafe]

Things I think we all need

A beanbag conversation pit

A feminised boyfriend

[photo-proof-kisses]

started reading the sisters of dorley a few weeks ago and got carried away with making the mugs in dorley hall and thought I’d post them here :)

[skyekurisu]

She is a terrifying college senpai who specializes in turning those with whom she has had at least a relationship once into sex slaves who can't live without her for the rest of their lives!

Oneshot by @ryuhorie530

[deeliteyears]

"The basement made me better"

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

goodreads

Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan Riley never had, until one day he disappears, and Stefan has to adapt to life without him. But, one year later, when he runs into a girl who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He discovers that other boys have disappeared, too, dozens over the years, most of them students of the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, many of them troubled or unruly before their disappearance.

What is happening to these boys? Who are the handful of women on campus who bear a striking resemblance to some of those who went missing? And what is the connection to the mysterious Dorley Hall?

Stefan works hard to get into the Royal College for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.

A closeted trans girl attempts to infiltrate a secret underground forced feminisation programme.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this book yet, but I got it in a trans book sale a year ago and I'm excited to check it out.

[thebookmarketingnook]

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

A Captivating Novel Worthy of Your Time I’m excited to feature a book spotlight for Welcome to Dorley Hall, by Alyson Greaves. Many thanks to @The_WriteReads, @NeemTreePress, and the author for including me in this blog tour.  Title: Welcome to Dorley Hall Author: Alyson Greaves Publisher: Neem Tree Press Genre: Queer, Transgender, Mystery, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary, Adult,…

[atomicponie]

Trans Tally Hall parody song called “Welcome to Dorley Hall”. There, is that something?

[selenedistress]

"I'm not dorleypilled! I'm not dorleypilled!!" I continue to insist as I slowly shrink and transform into a sponsor

[astras-starlights]

the sisters of dorley [hall], by alysongreaves. god damn. never have i ever related to a character, or a bunch of characters, so much. and the book as a whole! i used to dream about the near exact premise of this story, long before i ever knew that being trans was a thing. those dreams eventually helped it click that im not some angry boy riddled with anxiety, im a girl who so desperately needed to find her true self. and here comes along a book, that takes all of those thoughts and memories and painful moments and puts it into a masterfully written series book, with characters that are mirrors of myself past, present, and future (stef, christine, and paige, respectively). i have cried or been close to it so many times reading the first book, and introspected myself and my memories far more. ive experienced so many emotions, loved and lost and hated and laughed in a way that i never have for a book before. this book is life changing, and i think if given the chance it could save people like i used to be, like how stef is in the first book. waow

i love stef. emotional support character right there

[thirtythree43]

the escape had me like

[stinkybreath]

Dunking on Dawkins in the forcedfem book hahaha yaaay

[transbookoftheday]

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan Riley never had, until one day he disappears, and Stefan has to adapt to life without him. But, one year later, when he runs into a girl who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He discovers that other boys have disappeared, too, dozens over the years, most of them students of the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, many of them troubled or unruly before their disappearance.

What is happening to these boys? Who are the handful of women on campus who bear a striking resemblance to some of those who went missing? And what is the connection to the mysterious Dorley Hall?

Stefan works hard to get into the Royal College for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.

A closeted trans girl attempts to infiltrate a secret underground forced feminisation programme.