After Sappho cover art

After Sappho

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After Sappho

By: Selby Wynn Schwartz
Narrated by: Joan Walker
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About this listen

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, alongside it.

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.

After Sappho is Selby Wynn Schwartz's joyous reimagining of the lives of a brilliant 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—Virginia Woolf... these are just a few of the women (some famous, others hitherto unsung) sharing the minutes of a novel as fierce as it is luminous.

Lush and poetic; furious and funny; in After Sappho, Selby Wynn Schwartz has created a novel that celebrates the women and trailblazers of the past and also offers hope for our present, and our futures.

©2022 Selby Wynn Schwartz (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd
Historical Historical Fiction Fiction
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting topic but struggled to get through it

I thought I'd love it based on the topic (Sappho + strong feminists women loving women) ... however I found this hard to follow at times. and although the narrator is overall fine, I just couldn't get past the fact that she clearly doesn't speak Italian or French and this book has losds of words in those languages.... I felt this book needed someone who would pronounce them correctly as they are quite central

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Great book

Loved hearing these womens stories, the narrator was great too, important to reflect on the women who fought for what we have now

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book but…

There are so many characters, and somehow I didn’t discern much differentiation in terms of their personalities. I also found it very curious that there are no meaningful mother-daughter (or mother-son) attachment relationships alluded to or discussed, almost as if this may be a blind spot of the author. The narrator reads with a tone of airy, arched knowing, which is probably appropriate for a lot of the book but I really wished she’d mix it up a bit - I found it tedious eventually.

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1 person found this helpful