Early Embraces: True Life Stories of Women Describing Their First Lesbian Experience (Bk. 1) [Paperback]

Lindsey Elder (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An excerpt

RSVP by Julia Willis

"Can you come to a fish fry?" you asked. Leaving me there in that windowed stairwell where we'd been talking, you rushed away to your next class after the final bell rang. I watched you below dart out of the building and down the sidewalk, stop, turn, look up, and catch me watching you. Then embarrassed from being caught, I waved, casually, friendly, you know -- but instead of going on your way, you dashed right back into the building and called up the stairwell to me. "Can you come to a fish fry?"

I thought you were joking. "A fish fry?" I laughed.

"We're having one at my house." That house you shared in town with three other women -- Susan, who would end up spending all the money she'd collected for the utility bills before moving in with her married and gray-haired abnormal-psychology professor; Lisa, whose childhood had been nastily scarred by a father's promise to have TV's Annie Oakley at her eighth birthday party (he brought home the actress while she was on a 10-city promotional tour--a grown-up lady in a suit, a lady no one recognized without her trademark pigtails, guns, fringed vest and cowgirl boots, and ten little girls wept bitterly); and finally Margaret, your best friend from high school, who I and most people assumed you were or had been lovers with, since the air around you both was so thick with longing that we could all taste it.

"Bring everybody from Duchess house, if you want," you said. Duchess House being that collapsing country farmhouse I lived in with Dick and Diana, a young married couple -- too young and too married--and an assortment of other revolving students. The house was so named because our English teacher, Dick's and mine, said all great literature made use of religion, sex, or the aristocracy, hence the greatest sentence ever written would go something like: "My God," said the duchess to the bishop, "take your hand off my thigh." Duchess. House.

We wrote and painted and acted, your household and mine--all of us talented, all of us terrified of that talent, that it wouldn't be enough (as indeed it wouldn't be) or that it might be too much (as it most certainly would). You were a visual artist, but your father was head

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555833543
• ISBN-13: 978-1555833541
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #288,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How about as many stars as the sky on a clear night?, May 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Early Embraces: True Life Stories of Women Describing Their First Lesbian Experience (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

This was my first lesbian book I've ever read. It helped me realize what is in store for me in my future as I had just realized I am a lesbian. I also bought the book as a gift for a friend who helped me come out. We experienced the book together and were delighted by it to say the least. It does not include S&M or any other types of bondage. I cannot imagine a more perfect book to help me come to terms with my own sexuality. Reading it for the second time through is as good as the first time as I'm sure my third and fourth time will feel. Thank you to all the brilliant authors for sharing their wonderful stories of first times.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reader from Lousiania January 1998. It took my breath away., January 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Early Embraces: True Life Stories of Women Describing Their First Lesbian Experience (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

My best friend gave me this book as a Christmas gift last Christmas. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. This is one of the best books on lesbian love. I loved the way the author had plenty of sexual stories, but she also had the emotions added right in. It was remarkable. I highly suggest it to anyone who loves to read about lesbian sex. Give it to a friend who may be having a tough time with the thought of being a lesbian. They will realize that the emotional ties a woman shares when they have sex with another woman in unbelievable. I truely loved this book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lesbians, you will know what I am talking about!, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Early Embraces: True Life Stories of Women Describing Their First Lesbian Experience (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

Lesbians, you will know what I am talking about. By counting all of my fingers and toes, I would still run out of digits to answer the question asked to me by straight women and men and my gay boy friends: "How do women do it? " How does one answer this question? Or does the question deserve an answer? It is up to the lesbian.
One way to answer this question is to refer the inquiring minds to the book, "Early Embraces." It is a collection of stories by women throughout the United States, describing their first-time experience with another woman. This collection will bring memories back to the experienced and allow the inexperienced a look into the passion that is ours to share with another women. It acknowledges our feelings, including the sometimes awkwardness and often joyfulness of the lesbian lifestyle.
[...]I believe this book deserves a rating of all 10 of my fingers and all 10 of my toes. It receives a full digit review!
Julie L. Shaffer was homegrown in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and she has been recently transplanted in Seattle via a John Deere tractor. Apparently, Julie has a collection of wonderful implements. That's farm implements, you know.