After Sappho
by Selby Wynn Schwartz· 2023
Told in fragments, After Sappho is a reimagining of the lives of various nineteenth and twentieth-century feminists—from Josephine Baker and Virginia Woolf to Sarah Bernhard and Colette—celebrating the trailblazing women who helped make the modern world.
It's 1895. Amid laundry and bruises, Rina Pierangeli Faccio gives birth to the child of the man who raped her—and who she has also been forced to marry. Unbroken, she determines to change her name and her life.
1902. Romaine Brooks sails for Capri. She has barely enough money for the ferry, nothing for lunch; her paintbrushes are bald and clotted... but she is sure she can sell a painting—and is fervent in her belief that the island is detached from all fates she has previously suffered.
In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes: 'I want to make life fuller - and fuller.'
Told in a series of vignettes featuring a multitude of voices, the novel reimagines the lives of a group of feminists, sapphists, artists and writers in the late 19th and early 20th century as they battle for control over their lives, for liberation, and for justice. Sarah Bernhard, Colette, Eleanora Duse, Lina Poletti, Josephine Baker, and Virginia Woolf are among the women sharing the pages of the novel.
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Told in fragments, After Sappho is a reimagining of the lives of various nineteenth and twentieth-century feminists—from Josephine Baker and Virginia Woolf to Sarah Bernhard and Colette—celebrating the trailblazing women who helped make the modern world. It's 1895. Amid laundry and bruises, Rina Pierangeli Faccio gives birth to the child of the man who raped her—and who she has also been forced to marry. Unbroken, she determines to change her name and her life. 1902. Romaine Brooks sails for Capri. She has barely enough money for the ferry, nothing for lunch; her paintbrushes are bald and clotted... but she is sure she can sell a painting—and is fervent in her belief that the island is detached from all fates she has previously suffered. In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes: 'I want to make life fuller - and fuller.' Told in a series of vignettes featuring a multitude of voices, the novel reimagines the lives of a group of feminists, sapphists, artists and writers in the late 19th and early 20th century as they battle for control over their lives, for liberation, and for justice. Sarah Bernhard, Colette, Eleanora Duse, Lina Poletti, Josephine Baker, and Virginia Woolf are among the women sharing the pages of the novel.