Solitaire and Brahms [Paperback]

Sarah Dreher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

Shelby Camden is a young career woman who wonders why her engagement and impending marriage seem to constrict her to the point of depression and drink. Then she meets her new neighbor, the independent Fran Jarvis with whom she finds she can share her innermost thoughts. They begin to understand what they mean to each other.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Solitaire and Brahms describes Lesbian oppression in the 1950 s the devastating conflict between one s public and private life in most intimate detail. Sarah Dreher s fictional character, Shelby Camden, expresses her innermost thoughts and feelings in a way no one else has done. This book gives young and middleaged lesbians a taste of our history. It also gives old lesbian survivors a sense of pride. - --Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon

Sarah Dreher's Stoner McTavish mysteries are hugely popular, and deservedly so. In her first novelistic foray out of Stoner territory, she creates a vivid, funny, touching and terrifying look at pre-Stonewall lesbian life. Solitaire and Brahms is a page turner in the best sense - you must know what will happen next. Suprises and suspense, however, are only part of the richness of this novel. Dreher's characters are vibrantly alive and frighteningly real. You will never forget them. --Deborah Peifer, Bay Area Reporter

Sarah Dreher has managed to portray the nuances of hidden agendas as they manipulate and distress everyone in their orbit. Solitaire and Brahms is also a reminder from the not so distant past that we have indeed made progress in women's rights and lesbian rights. Readers will cheer for Shelby as she wends her way through the mine fields of what others want for her until she discovers the path that works for her. --Judith McDaniel, poet, writer and activist

About the Author

In addition to writing the Stoner McTavish series of novels, Sarah Dreher is a clinical psychologist and prizewinning playwright. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her family of choice and assorted wild and domesticated beasts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: New Victoria Publishers (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934678855
• ISBN-13: 978-0934678858
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful character study illuminating darker times., December 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Solitaire and Brahms (Paperback)

Sarah Dreher, best known as the author of the seven volume Stoner McTavish mystery series, has broadened her horizons with Solitaire and Brahms,an insightful and tender novel about a woman recognizing the freedoms and fears associated with self-discovery. Dreher's main character, Shelby Camden, is a complex, witty, kind career woman who maintains the strong facade of happiness in spite of her nagging depression, migraine-like headaches, and an unfullfilling engagement to the man of her mother's dreams. Set in the sixties during the dawn of the sexual revolution and women's movement, this work portrays the pre-Stonewall mentality of the country, a time when being lesbian meant certain ostracism, self-hatred, and often psychiatric intervention. Camden is a young woman, not terribly brave, caught between her desire for a conventional life and her deeper yearnings for a career as a magazine editor and a blossoming friendship with a warm easy-going, but rather secretive woman we discover is lesbian. "The Childrens Hour" is playing it's first run at the local theater and as readers we are immersed in the thinking that prevailed at the time when loving another woman meant very unhappy endings. Dreher's prose is engaging, never overwritten, often humorous. Her work as a clinical psychologist comes in handy, as well as her playwriting skills. The dialogue is fast paced, never trite, and captures the heart. Highly recommended reading for all who love a good character study, a brilliant depiction of a time in our history, and simply a beautifully composed story. She takes us on a journey through darker days but remembers to leave a light on at the end of the tunnel.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for older dykes who remember HOW it was., June 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Solitaire and Brahms (Paperback)

Bravo, Sarah Dreher. In these post-Sonewall, post-feminist movement days, it's been easy to forget just HOW it was. Yes, we were committed to mental hospitals or somebody in the family tried to have us committed; yes, we were fired from jobs and evicted from apartments; yes, our friends, once told, were no longer friends and, YES, good old Mom and Dad not only had the proverbial cow; they killed it too. (Figuratively, of course, by banning us from the bosom of the family so others wouldn't catch "it".) Yes, we blamed ourselves for our lesbianism and KNEW everything would be okay if we could just get rid of this blasted disease. Unfortunately, for most of us - despite the marriages and children and shock therapy, etc., recommended by the shrinks and/or family to get us over this stage - nothing worked. We stayed gay and learned to live with it for better or for worse. I've got a hunch your wonderful charcters in "Solitaire and Brahms", Shelby and Fran, learned to live with it for the better. What a great ending! And now, as I look back to then from the pages of your excellent book and remember how it was, I'm glad nothing worked, glad I'm a dyke and VERY glad I survived those years. A must-read for those who lived how it was, or those up-coming youngsters who would like to know how it was.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too true to be pleasant, February 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Solitaire and Brahms (Paperback)

Oh, yes, for those of us old enough to remember, this is a searing book! If you can't remember, you might want to be real glad. It captures exactly the feelings and ambiance of the late 50s and early 60s. This was NOT a time to be a lesbian, even for those of us who could be nothing else, and who went ahead and got married anyway.