Michaela

by Sarah Aldridge

One of the classic Sarah Aldridge novels from the founder of Naiad Press. In Michaela, Laura and Julie are in France, where Laura is recuperating from the trauma of caring for her husband, who has died of AIDS. They meet Michaela, a penniless girl with a passion to be a dancer. Befriending her, they are swept into a dangerous situation that takes then form the romance of France to New York City and Virginia. A stunning tale of lesbian love.

Genres: LGBT

250 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

About the author

Sarah Aldridge was the pen name of Anyda Marchant, attorney, publisher and novelist. Marchant was born Anne Nelson Yarborough De Armond Marchant in Rio de Janeiro and moved with her family to Washington at 6. She called herself Anyda, using the initials from her long name. She graduated and received a law degree in 1936 from the old National University law school, now part of George Washington University. She spent almost forty years of her working life in New York City and Washington, D.C. as a lawyer in both public and private practice.

Upon retiring in 1972, she began a career as a writer and publisher. She originated the Naiad Press and was co-founder (along with Barbara Grier, Donna McBride and Muriel Crawford) when it was incorporated in 1974. In 1995 she and her lifelong companion Muriel Crawford withdrew as co-owners of the Naiad Press and founded a new publishing venture, A&M Books. Naiad published the first eleven Sarah Aldridge novels and A&M Books published the last three. Her final novel, Oh Mistress Mine was released when the author was 92. In January 2006, Anyda Marchant passed away, two weeks shy of her 95th birthday. Her life partner of 57 years, Muriel Crawford, followed her in death only four months later.

A literary icon in the world of lesbian/feminist publishing, Anyda Marchant as Sarah Aldridge provided some of the first novels to have both lesbian protagonists and happy endings. All of her fourteen classic novels are still in print and available for purchase. As a lasting tribute to her vast and varied contributions to lesbian literature and publishing, Sarah Aldridge was awarded the Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award posthumously in June 2007.

Reviews

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel is very strange. It's short, but includes enough material to make at least three novels. It begins with Julia and Laura, professional women in their 50s, who are finally living together after 15 years of being lovers, following the death of Laura's bisexual husband by AIDS. There's a lot to unpack in that one sentence, no? But this is merely the backdrop to a story about Michaela. While on holiday in France, Laura and Julia see a 14-year-old girl, who they think is a "gypsy", working in a local hotel. They become obsessed with this girl, and when she expresses a desire to become a dancer, they convince her mother to let her come to New York with them, where they convince an experienced ballet teacher to train her. There's a lot going on there too, right? On top of this, there's a subplot about Laura's dead husband's mistress, who is trying to ruin Laura's relationship with her in-laws. There's also some stuff about Michaela's mother, the danger of Laura and Julia being outed to her, and Michaela's crush on Laura. We also delve into teenage sexuality, and have some weird voyeuristic scenes where Laura watches Michaela practice her dancing. There are so many different elements here, and the author isn't in control of ANY of them. It's a strange jumble of rapid events and poorly written dialogue full of exposition. This press published ten books by this author -- I wonder if any of them were any better?