What is mythic? / What is true? Asks the opening anonymous poet of this collection. Lesbians have become cultural amphibians. This anthology reflects the varied tongues, the inventiveness of lesbian culture and the diversity of lesbian writing. It explores the mechanics of daily life, the explosiveness of relationships and the geography of love. Here is toughness, conviction, perseverance and...

What does a place mean? An old kauri villa with a one-roomed school attached is the place that has sustained a writer, Beryl Fletcher, through turbulent years and an obsessive love. Sent away at the age of six for a few months to the house at Karamu, she discovered books and spent many nights reading by candlelight, listening to the call of the moreporks. Karamu became a symbolic landscape of...

A SPINIFEX FEMINIST CLASSIC

How do you decide to live? Or do others make that decision for you? In this lyrical novel, Beryl Fletcher explores the paradoxes of modern life. As a new academic, Julia finds her beliefs challenged by her students, reinforced by her friend’s mistreatment and dismissed by her family. Just as her mother sought freedom from her family’s rural poverty, Julia and her...