To comprehend Dolly’s perspective on love, men, and relationships, you should know about her childhood and adolescence in the 1990s. She grew up in the British suburbs, with no culture, no developed infrastructure, and no restaurants in sight. So, there was practically nothing to do there, especially for a teenager. However, this tranquil but boring course of life was interrupted by the invention of dial-up internet and MSN instant messenger.

This miracle of technology brought a new wave of communication into Dolly’s and other teenagers’ lives. It was not just a tool for communication but a place where she would spend hours every day chatting with her friends. Even during holidays in France, she would check if the hotels they stayed at had a computer with an Internet connection.

Notably, Dolly’s exposure to the opposite sex was minimal: her dad, brother, and cousin were the few she regularly talked to. As you could guess, the Internet allowed her to broaden this circle. Those girls who had the luck to spend time with boys on the weekends would share the boys’ emails with Dolly and others. However, several weeks of virtual communication almost never led to a real-life meet-up.

Later on, Dolly had a few unsuccessful and fleeting relationships, if one could call them so. She recalls one of them at the age of 14. Her friend set her up with a guy named Betzalel, and Dolly invited her best friend, Farly, to accompany her on a date. However, Betz turned out nothing like his photo on MSN. During the embarrassing 12-minute date, Farly does all the talking while Betz and Dolly silently stare at the floor. As an excuse to leave, Dolly says they must catch a bus, so they escape. After the date, Betz sends Dolly a lengthy text on MSN explaining how they won’t work out. In response, Dolly tells him off for such cowardly behavior because he obviously liked her more than she did him.

For a girl who studied at a girls’ boarding school and grew up surrounded by girls only, boys and men seemed bizarre, disgusting, and fascinating human beings—all at once. These mixed feelings made the concept of a romantic relationship with a boy seem both sweet and utterly unattainable.