Butterflies are the natural enemy of Dorley girls. (The cover of Welcome to Dorley Hall, art by Benjanun Sriduangkaew.)
"When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors
Took our broken hearts, put them in a drawer
“...if I stay, I don’t just get to transition, which may very well save my life, I get the chance to be beautiful, like you. Out there, even if I start on HRT immediately and even if it ultimately changes my face beyond my wildest dreams, I’ve still got to live long enough to get there. Months and months. Years, maybe. Finding ways to make money, to go to classes, to struggle along with life, and those are all things I’ve already failed at. It’s terrifying, Christine, and I just can’t face it. I want— I need what you have.”
“Even if you have to go through hell to get it?”
“I’m in hell,” he says. “At least your hell has catering.”
— the conversation between Stef and Christine that sets the stage for the entire series
"We’re the mice who chased off the scientists, and now we control the maze. But the street mice say we’re kind of odd."
— Jodie, making the understatement of the year to Lorna
The Sisters of Dorley is an ongoing series of novels by Alyson Greaves. As of June 1, 2023, thirty-three chapters of the story have been published online, with the first 26 being collected in two print and ebook volumes. A third novel is projected for March 2024.
The story opens with Stefan "Stef" Riley coping with the disappearance of his childhood mentor, friend, and older-brother surrogate Mark. A year later, Stef runs into Melissa, a girl who looks almost identical to Mark, sparking a fixation on the idea that his childhood friend may still be alive, but changed. Stef soon discovers that several other boys have also disappeared: mostly students at the nearby Royal College of Saint Almsworth, many of them with behavioral issues before their disappearance. Curiously, many of these disappearances coincide with the appearances, a few years later, of a handful of women on campus who bear striking resemblances to the missing boys...
...and all of them live at a mysterious, privately-owned dormitory just off campus called Dorley Hall.
As Stef's quest to discover the truth about Melissa, Mark, and the secrets of Dorley Hall develops in unexpected directions, the scope of the story expands to include many other characters' viewpoints and backstories, all of which shape the unfolding struggle for control over Dorley and its mysterious "programme."
The literature includes:
- Welcome to Dorley Hall, chapters 1-15 (2022)
- Secrets of Dorley Hall, chapters 16-26 (2022)
- Enemies of Dorley Hall, chapters 27-? (scheduled 2024)
Provides examples of:
- Arc Words: "Say you understand and agree."
- Amicable Exes: Paige and Christine dated earlier in the program. They get back together.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Or rather, kidnapping, mutilation, and movie piracy.
- Basement-Dweller: The first-years are sometimes identified as such, verbatim.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Indira is poised, graceful, kind, cheerful, and sweet, and she will rain literal hellfire down on you if you hurt Christine.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Dorley Hall as run by Aunt Bea is kind of terrifying, but it looks like a day spa compared to Grandmother's Dorley.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: An understated but emphatic version to Aunt Bea... from Stef. Twice.
- Cast Full of Gay: Even outside of the fact that most of the cast couldn't really be called "Cis" (although whether they could be considered trans is a source of in-universe debate), all but a handful of the women who make up the core cast are dating other women...usually each other.
- Captured on Purpose: This wasn't originally the plan, but Stef decides to play along.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Here, it’s called “being Dorleypilled.”
- Cool Big Sis: The relationship of many sponsors to their charges, perhaps most obviously exemplified by Indira (to Christine) and Maria (to Aaron).
- Creepy Basement: Of the underground prison variety.
- Crippling Castration: One of the milestones in the programme, frequently followed by psychological collapse and Identity Breakdown.
- Cult: The family/church Adam was abducted from are frequently referred to as such.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Given this is essentially a prerequisite for being selected for intake, it would be easier to point out the characters who don't fit this trope.
- Deconstruction: Of the forced-feminization trope and, broadly, of the forced-feminization genre of erotica. The Sisters of Dorley basically poses the question, "What if forced-fem was real? What would that actually look like?"
- Lampshaded in Chapter 30, to Pippa's bemusement.
- Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: This could be said of all the sponsors with violent intakes, but it rings most true with Tabby, since Will defines himself as a time bomb of toxicity.
- Determinator: Valérie, who would be awe-inspiring if her story weren't so horrific.
- Different for Girls: Discussed, deconstructed, reconstructed, and played straight throughout the novels.
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: Discussed and mocked as one of Dorley Hall's most egregious crimes.
- Doorstopper: As of Chapter 37, the series runs to 719,734 words. The trade-paperback print editions of the first two books are 411 and 665 pages, respectively.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted hard
- Elaborate Underground Base: Downplayed, but alluded to.
- Everyone Can See It: Melissa and Shahida, almost word-for-word.
- Evil Matriarch: (Mostly) averted with Aunt Bea, who is far more of a Moral Pragmatist. Played absolutely, horrifically straight with Grandmother.
- Family of Choice: It's right there in the name: the Sisters of Dorley.
- Fate Worse than Death: Washing out of the programme is strongly implied to be this.
- Femininity Failure: A constant fear of the girls in the programme, and a major part of Christine's character arc.
- First Kiss: Officially signals the Relationship Upgrade for both Stephanie and Bethany and Melissa and Shahida.
- Gallows Humor: Rampant throughout the books, with special mention going to the novelty mugs.
- Get into Jail Free: Essentially how Stef decides to pivot after Christine tricks him into being captured.
- Girly Girl: To an extent, an expectation of the programme. Subverted by Paige, who strategically embodies all of the traits of a "girly girl" in her budding Instagram influencer career while remaining aware that it's all arbitrary.
- Goth: Jodie, whose vampiric aesthetic is frequently commented on.
- Government Drug Enforcement: The boys are told their goserelin implants are meant to help keep them docile. They're actually to suppress their testosterone before being started on estrogen.
- Guys are Slobs: Aaron certainly seems to think so.
- High-School Sweethearts: Subverted. This might have been Mark and Shahida, if Mark's BSOD hadn't driven them apart.
- I Am What I Am: A recurring theme in the novels.
- Identity Breakdown: A key part of how the programme operates.
- Interrupted Suicide: Melissa, twice: first by Shahida, then by Abby.
- Iron Lady: Don't let her cosy nickname fool you: this is Aunt Bea, in spades.
- Jerkass: Several of the basement dwellers, including Declan, Will, Ollie, and Raph.
- Jumped at the Call: Vicky, according to Christine. Stef, canonically.
- Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: Stephanie is teased with this accusation.
- Like Brother and Sister: Aaron's feelings about Elizabeth.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Several of the Sisters qualify, most notably Paige.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Aaron's backstory.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The cover story for some boys in the intakes.
- Mars and Venus Gender Contrast: Stunned, pinned to a board, labelled, and analyzed to pieces.
- Meaningful Rename: Downplayed with Stephanie's gradual rename over the course of seven chapters, but played absolutely straight (and mildly lampshaded) with Bethany in Chapter 32, which turns out to be a "Near and Dear" Baby Naming with Bethany choosing it in part to remember her friend Elizabeth.
- Nouveau Riche: Aaron's family.
- Oblivious to Love: Christine spends most of the first dozen or so chapters completely unaware of how head over heels Paige is over her.
- Pop: An omnipresent part of the aural backdrop of Dorley Hall, especially the music of a certain American singer/songwriter.
- Proper Lady: One of the outcomes of the programme favored by Aunt Bea, and very much a part of her own public persona. Exemplified by Nadine, much to her girlfriend Charlie's amusement.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: What leads to Declan being washed out of the programme.
- Real Men Eat Meat: Played with a fair bit. The boys are fed an entirely vegetarian diet early in the programme, with meat reintroduced later as an incentive for good behavior. Later on, played completely straight, and used as an incentive to try to coax good behaviour out of Ollie. It doesn't work. Will surmises, probably correctly, that it is used because food, along with fighting and sex, are some of the only pleasures that men are allowed to have and still remain "manly".
- Refuge in Audacity: A secret underground torture basement where unhappy bad boys are turned into happy good girls? Yeah, sure.
- Relationship Upgrade: As of the end of Chapter 26, Stephanie and Aaron. In Chapter 32, with some prodding from Amy, Melissa and Shahida finally admit the obvious.
- Rich Bitch: Grandmother aspires to be this, but doesn't have the social position. With Elle, completely straight, even if Elle is on Dorley Hall's side.
- Say My Name: The end of Chapter 32, when Stephanie greets Bethany by her new name.
- Secret-Keeper: Every graduate of the programme, for obvious reasons. Later, Lorna, Shahida, Amy, and reluctantly, Rachel, when they're read into the programme.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Martin, until he killed the husband of a sponsor's best friend, after which the "sheltered" part was decisively negated.
- Ship Tease: Stephanie and Bethany, Melissa and Shahida.
- Silk Hiding Steel: This describes a lot of the girls, including Indira, Paige, and Maria. Stephanie may be shaping up this way, as well.
- Sinister Sorority Sisters: How the Sisters of Dorley are sometimes seen by outsiders. The truth is... more complicated than that.
- Sobriquet Sex Switch: Stephan/Stef changing to Stephanie/Steph. Later, partially averted with Aaron changing to Bethany Erin.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Mentioned by name.
- Straw Feminist: How several of the boys in the basement see the sponsors.
- Straw Misogynist: How several of the boys in the basement think the sponsors see them.
- Testosterone Poisoning: One of the criteria for being selected for the programme.
- Torture Cellar: The basement, both ironically and literally.
- Tragic Keepsake: A few throughout the novels: Pippa's bracelet, Melissa's mom's iPod. Downplayed with Stef's keychains, which are less tragic, more heartwarming.
- Transgender: Obviously, though it's complicated. Are the Sisters of Dorley transgender? Some of them say yes, others say no, and still others say they're of a possible third category, neither cis nor trans. It's clear (and the author makes it clear) that the struggles that the Dorley Girls experience are very similar to the struggles trans women and trans enbies experience.
- Played straight with Vicky's girlfriend Lorna, an out and proud trans woman. Interestingly, after struggling at first with the concept, Lorna emphatically comes down on the "yes" side of the question above.
- Also played straight with Stef, a self-aware (though closeted) trans girl who voluntarily stays in the programme because it's easier than transitioning through the NHS (read: actually possible for someone in Stef's position).
- Trans Tribulations: The series gives an insider's view on just how difficult it is to be transgender in the UK. Stef's struggles with dysphoria in particular are shown with an unflinching eye.
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: A regular feature for multiple chracters, some of which run the length of a whole chapter.
- Vulgar Humor: Aaron's stock in trade. Officially, Maria disapproves, but she comes to appreciate it more and more.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The "true believers" (or "Dorleypilled") among the Sisters... which is almost all of them, really.
The first rule of forced-fem club is you do not talk about forced-fem club.
