Lesbian Love Story A Queer History of Sapphic Romance

A TIME MAGAZINE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023 * A BUZZFEED MOST ANTICIPATED LGBTQ+ BOOK 2023 * A ZIBBY MAG MOST ANTICIPATED 'INTIMATE AND SEXY' Nina LaCour | 'PERSONAL, PALPABLE AND CONTAGIOUS' Michelle Tea | 'OUTSTANDING' Stephen McCauley | 'A DELIGHTFUL DEBUT' Shannon Carlin Lesbian Love Story is a genre-defying history of sapphic romance like no other. On her quest to discover lesbian role models from the past, Amelia Possanza uncovers seven incredible love stories in the archives. Expertly blending her subjects' own words with richly imagined and vigorously researched moments from recorded archives and other fragments, Possanza weaves together a vivid narrative around the construction of lesbianism. She takes us with her as she uncovers each lesbian's story, yearning and longing alongside them and growing into her own queerness. This is a celebration of women who love women - sapphics - and a paean to those who have long existed outside of traditional definitions of sexuality and gender, defying the confines of heteronormativity. Each of the lesbians in this collection moved through the world in their own way and helped the world: Sappho, one of the ever first recorded lesbians, gave sapphics their name. - Mary Casal published one of the first memoirs of lesbian love in the 1930s. - Mabel Hampton was a Black dancer and activist whose love embraced a whole community at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. - Babe Didrikson opened up new worlds of professional athletics to women through her achievements in professional golf in the 1950s. - Terry Brown lived an openly gender non-conforming life from the 1950s to the 1970s. - Gloria Anzaldúa was a Chicana feminist poet and intersectional activist writing in the 1970s and 1980s. - Amy Hoffman stepped in as the primary caregiver for her friend, Mark Riegle, through his struggles with the Aids epidemic in the 1980s. Their stories illuminate a forgotten and demonised history and show us all a new way to understand what love means when there is nothing material to be gained.