An experiment in form, After Sappho is told in the collective voice and uses the pronoun “we” to knit together biographical anecdotes from the lives of many historical women, including Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, and Italian writer Lina Poletti. The book takes a cue from the ancient Greek poet Sappho’s own writing, largely left to us in fragmented form, and its themes of desire and belonging. In one moment, a glass mirror shatters and yet “we” can still admire ourselves in the fragments. Though heavily researched, the work blends fiction and nonfiction into a chatty whole. The cumulative effect is a loose history of feminist fire-starters and lesbian icons coming into their own in the modern era. —Eliana Dockterman
Buy Now: After Sappho on Bookshop | Amazon
- What a Photographer Saw in the West Bank
- Accenture’s Chief AI Officer on Why This Is a Defining Moment
- Inside COP28's Big 'Experiment'
- U.S. Doctors Can't Be Silent About Gaza: Column
- The Movie Wives Would Like a Word
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023
- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
