Lesbian Love Story
A Queer History of Sapphic RomanceSelect a format:
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Summary
Charting the stories of Olympic athletes and lesbian memoirists, via Sappho, Lesbian Love Story is a genre-defying respository of sapphic romance like no other.
On her quest to discovering lesbian role models overlooked by history, Amelia Possanza uncovers seven incredible love stories in the archives. Expertly blending her subjects' own words with richly imagined and vigorously researched moments from their lives to tell their stories in an intimate, vivid and immediate way, Possanza weaves these narratives together with her own memories of uncovering the past, yearning and longing alongside her subjects and growing into her queerness.
This is a celebration of sapphics - of women who love women - but also of people who have always existed outside of traditional definitions of gender and bravely lived beyond the confines of heteronormativity. Each of the lesbians in this memoir moved through the world in their own way and helped the world. Their stories illuminate a forgotten history, as well as showing us all a new way to understand what love means when there is nothing material to be gained.
On her quest to discovering lesbian role models overlooked by history, Amelia Possanza uncovers seven incredible love stories in the archives. Expertly blending her subjects' own words with richly imagined and vigorously researched moments from their lives to tell their stories in an intimate, vivid and immediate way, Possanza weaves these narratives together with her own memories of uncovering the past, yearning and longing alongside her subjects and growing into her queerness.
This is a celebration of sapphics - of women who love women - but also of people who have always existed outside of traditional definitions of gender and bravely lived beyond the confines of heteronormativity. Each of the lesbians in this memoir moved through the world in their own way and helped the world. Their stories illuminate a forgotten history, as well as showing us all a new way to understand what love means when there is nothing material to be gained.
Reviews
Possanza is refreshingly frank about how her biography influences her writing, and what she wants from the lives she conjures up, however different they may be from hers. Lesbian Love Story is full of warmth and hope - readable, inventive and scholarly ... Attraction, love, compassion, hope: all are brought to life by the author's sharp, lively observation. These remarkable figures deserve to have their stories told - and listened to.
Erica Wagner, Sunday Times