Customer Reviews

The Swashbuckler: A Novel

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Lee Lynch's "Swashbuckler" chronicles about 15 years in life of Frenchy Tonneau, a New Yorker, from her coming of age to her fifth anniversary with her lover. The most compelling reason to read this book is Lynch's treatment of Frenchy. Where other lesbian authors have reverted to stereotypes and one-dimensional characters, Lynch's Frenchy is vibrant and lovable, but not perfect as her life is followed through the 1950's and 1960's. The author uses locations, class, and the City of New York almost as if they were characters themselves, each with their own pivotal roles to play. The author also adresses family relationships, both negative and positive, in a realistic light. Overall, the book is interesting, entertaining, and educational, and well worth the couple of hours it took me to read it! I would recommend this book to readers in high school or older, and it's the perfect book for the beach or the subway bench.

Terrific writing is only part of the appeal of this novel.

The impact at the end of the first chapter is huge and I was left heartbroken after only a dozen pages. By the end of the novel I was grinning from ear to ear with hope and happiness.

This wonderfully detailed novel is so rich in characterization of people, time and place that I didn't want to put it down, ever.

This is a Keeper!

From the back of the book - Greenwich Village ... Provincetown ... Travel with Frenchy Tonneau through these legendary gay meccas during the sixties and seventies when lesbian life changed forever.

From the web - Lee Lynch has been proudly writing lesbian stories since the 1960s when she was a frequent contributor to "The Ladder," the only lesbian publication at the time. Since then she has published a dozen books, her stories have appeared in a number of anthologies, and she has written reviews and feature articles for "The Lambda Book Report" and many other publications. Her syndicated column, "The Amazon Trail," has been running since 1986.

The author is also the recipient of the Alice B. Reader's award for Lesbian Fiction 2007 and a 2006 Inductee of the Saints & Sinners Literary Hall of Fame.

Don't miss the other titles from the author -

Toothpick House 1983
The Swashbuckler 1985
Home in Your Hands 1986
Dusty's Queen of Hearts Diner 1987
The Amazon Trail 1988
Sue Slate, Private Eye 1989
That Old Studebaker 1991
Morton River Valley 1992
Cactus Love 1994
Off the Rag: Lesbians Writing on Menopause, Anthology Edited with Akia Woods 1996
Rafferty Street 1998
Sweet Creek 2006 * Golden Crown Literary Society nominee finalist