Overview

A reflective novel of emerging lesbian identity, set in 1962.

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.

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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.