Lesbian Love Story
A Memoir In Archives
by Amelia Possanza
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date May 30 2023 | Archive Date Apr 28 2023
Talking about this book? Use #LesbianLoveStory #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
When Amelia Possanza moved to Brooklyn to build a life of her own, she found herself surrounded by queer stories: she read them on landmark placards, overheard them on the pool deck when she joined the world’s largest LGBTQ swim team, and even watched them on TV in her cockroach-infested apartment. These stories inspired her to seek out lesbians throughout history who could become her role models, in romance and in life.
Centered around seven love stories for the ages, this is Possanza’s journey into the archives to recover the personal histories of lesbians in the twentieth century: who they were, how they loved, why their stories were destroyed, and where their memories echo and live on. Possanza’s hunt takes readers from a drag king show in Bushwick to the home of activists in Harlem and then across the ocean to Hadrian’s Library, where she searches for traces of Sappho in the ruins. Along the way, she discovers her own love—for swimming, for community, for New York City—and adds her record to the archive.
At the heart of this riveting, inventive history, Possanza asks: How could lesbian love help us reimagine care and community? What would our world look like if we replaced its foundation of misogyny with something new, with something distinctly lesbian?
Advance Praise
A TIME Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A The Millions Most Anticipated Read
A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A Buzzfeed Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A Zibby Mag Most Anticipated Book of 2023
“Delightful.”
—TIME
“Writing with empathy, wit, and imagination, Possanza constructs a personal, political, and romantic history of lesbian life and love.”
—The Millions
“Incredible. . . Possanza’s centuries-spanning document–which melds her own story with hidden, intimate histories of drag kings and olympians, artists and activists–is a manifesto of love: of erotic love and platonic love, of familial and communal love, and maybe most importantly, self-love.”
—Michelle Hart, Electric Literature
“A compelling history in praise of the research archive, Possanza asks and attempts to answer, what is lesbian love?”
—Emily Firetog, Literary Hub
“Delightful.”
—Buzzfeed
“Lesbian Love Story cracks open a vault of queer lives that were so meaningful to dig into - sporty girls, masc forbears, illicit loves. These juicy stories are filled with pathos and inspiration, and Ameila Possanza's thrill at excavating them is personal, palpable and contagious.”
—Michelle Tea, author of Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My In/Fertility
“Intimate and sexy, voraciously researched and vibrantly imagined, Amelia Possanza has given us the romantic history all lesbians deserve.”
—Nina LaCour, author of Yerba Buena
“Lesbian Love Story has all the vivid detail of a great novel and all the intelligence of a great study. Amelia Possanza dives into archival records of many kinds to discover what lesbians have to teach us all about love. In doing so, she recounts the stories of seven remarkable women—athletes, performers, and poets among them—explores the complexity of record keeping, especially for the disenfranchised, and reveals her own loves and longings. I was continually fascinated, frequently moved, and completely in awe of Possanza's wit, intelligence, and empathy. I can't wait to reread this outstanding, unforgettable book.”
—Stephen McCauley, author of My Ex-Life
“A creative, joyful approach to the queer past. Lesbian Love Story weaves together history, memoir, and theory in this refreshing work of historical imagination. A very smart love letter to lesbians across time.”
—Jen Manion, author of Female Husbands: A Trans History
“Amelia Possanza’s Lesbian Love Story is a tender and sensual swim through lesbian history - thoroughly researched and brought to dazzling life by Possanza’s imaginative prose.”
—Hugh Ryan, author of When Brooklyn Was Queer
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781646221059 |
| PRICE | $27.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 288 |
Available on NetGalley
Readers who liked this book also liked:
