Lesbian Love Story: A Queer History of Sapphic Romance

From the famous poet Sappho to the many athletes, poets, performers and ordinary people who have since born the name, lesbians have always dared to live and love beyond the confines of social norms, but they have often been relegated to the fringes of history.

In Lesbian Love Story, Amelia Possanza brings the eight lesbians back from the past, expertly blending their own words from the records they left behind with richly imagined and vigorously researched moments from their lives. Interwoven with these intimate portrayals of queer love are Possanza's own memories of uncovering each story in the archive, of loving and longing alongside them and of growing up as a lesbian.

This is a history of women who love women, but also of people who fall outside of traditional definitions of gender and dared to live beyond the binary. Each 'lesbian' in this collection moved through the world in their own way, some, like Babe Didrikson became star athletes and others, like Rusty Brown, chose to live openly gender-nonconforming lives. Still others, like Gloria Anzaldúa, became poets and fierce activists, while others, like Amy Hoffman, quietly devoted themselves to caring for the people in their lives. As Possanza guides us through the stories of these unforgettable lesbians, she unpacks the meaning of the word 'lesbian', what lives unshackled from traditional expectations around gender can look like and what lesbians can teach all of us about love.