Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 23 ratings

Price: 17.5

Last update: 12-04-2024


About this item

For readers of Saidiya Hartman and Jeanette Winterson, Lesbian Love Story is an intimate journey into the archives—uncovering the romances and role models written out of history and what their stories can teach us all about how to love

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?


Top reviews from the United States

Sarah Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2023
I wish this book existed 30 years ago. So many of us can relate to “collecting lesbians.” I was hooked from the first page. Thank you, Amelia Possanza.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely storytelling of dazzling stories
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2024
Amelia Possanza uses this book to tell stories that are romantic, inspiring, and altogether enchanting. I fell in love with these historical lesbians and it made me feel so much less alone as someone who has recently shifted from identifying as bi to realizing I am, myself, a lesbian. This book is so important to me and just what I needed. Thank you for writing it.
Rebecca Mugridge
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2024
Author Amelia Possanza has written a deeply researched narrative about historical lesbian relationships in an effort to find role models for herself not only in romance and relationships but in life. The subtitle of the book is “A memoir in archives” and Possanza uses libraries, archives, and historical centers as sources for locating information about lesbian relationships ranging from the Greek poet Sappho up to the current day. Each of seven chapters delve into these relationships and Possanza quotes effectively and thoroughly from these historical lesbians’ own writings and statements (some through oral history archives). As she discusses these historical cases, she weaves her own life and musings about what it means to be a lesbian into the story and she relates how what she learns about each of the lesbians whom she is researching affects her own understanding about herself and her own relationships and friendships. Possanza’s writing is deeply researched and the stories she tells are compelling, touching, and fascinating.
Potatoes
5.0 out of 5 stars So interesting, so important
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2023
Every page of this book is fascinating. The stories are all so compelling. It's a smart, important book, but also personal and funny, really well written and really interesting. I learned a lot and loved doing it.
Matthew Salas
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book so much!
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023
I received this book from the author at a pride event and was excited to read it but did not expect the world to open up for me as it did when I started it. I held on to each and every story, not wanting it to be over but also not wanting to wait to read the next piece. I am gifting this book to all of my friends and feel such peace from knowing a book like this exists in this world.
Susan Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars Great balance of lesbian history and personal memoir
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2023
This is a delightfully original approach to a fascinating yet neglected history. Amelia Possanza shows an impressive breadth of talent, ranging from the ability to spin a story (make that stories!), to the skill required to make the results of deep research so enjoyable to read. She also shows herself a skilled memoirist, weaving her own journey into those of the women whose lives these eloquent pages celebrate. Lesbian Love Story inspires in the reader both gratitude and the drive to make further progress toward acceptance of the full range of lifestyle choices.
tessie84
2.0 out of 5 stars Decent attempt at queer historical female representation but found it to be ridiculously bi-phobic
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2023
While I was really excited about this book and appreciate the history that the author was attempting to tell, I found the book to be bi-phobic and centering of whiteness. The author is eager to include certain historical figures under the category of "lesbian" to the point of intentionally excluding other aspects of their lives that could point to them potentially being considered more "sexually fluid" under more modern terms. With some figures, it is difficult for us to apply certain terms to them now because the historical record makes it hard to determine their sexuality and/or because it's difficult to know how they would categorize themselves based upon our contemporary terms. However, that's not necessarily the issue in Possanza's book. For example, in the chapter on Sappho, Possanza even makes the statement "I'd rather ignore [the man Sappho was supposedly in love with]. He stands in the way of the uncomplicated claiming of Sappho as a queer icon." Are bi+ (umbrella term for people with the capacity to be attracted to multiple genders) people not queer? Although I was over halfway through the book, it was with this that I decided I could go no longer with the book because I could not keep reading bi-phobic comments.

As for the centering of whiteness, the author does attempt to engage with the history of systemic racism. However, it's very telling that the only historical figures who have their race mentioned are the ones who are not white. Very disappointing.

In a book that I was excited to read in hopes of the author giving the deserved attention to women and other femmes who have loved women over the years, I found the book is really written for white lesbians.
Tiff
5.0 out of 5 stars Author's Passion and Intellect Leaps off the Page
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023
I was enthralled from page one. It's clear in every word that Amelia Possanza researched these lesbians and their stories voraciously and with a zest for the lush queer romances history has denied us. She brings these historical threads back full force, welcoming the reader into her fascinations and rabbit holes. I can't wait to read what's next from her.
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Tiff
5.0 out of 5 stars Author's Passion and Intellect Leaps off the Page
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023
I was enthralled from page one. It's clear in every word that Amelia Possanza researched these lesbians and their stories voraciously and with a zest for the lush queer romances history has denied us. She brings these historical threads back full force, welcoming the reader into her fascinations and rabbit holes. I can't wait to read what's next from her.
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