So Benjamin puts on a gown and wears flowers in his hair, while Annabelle somewhat reluctantly dons “a handsome suit” and a top hat. “I’ll be a bride,” says Benjamin, “and you can marry me.” In “The Fairest in the Land,” blond-haired, light-skinned Benjamin and dark-haired, darker-skinned Annabelle decide to play dress-up, and Annabelle asks Benjamin want he wants to be. Instead, in both “The Fairest in the Land” and “I Can Be … Me!” children experiment with play and activities that historically have been defined as suited for either girls or boys - but, as Newman sees it, should be open to anyone. In two of her newest titles for young children, Newman, who’s also written essays and short stories, delves into the topic of gender identity, though that actual term is never employed. This is her first novel.Holyoke poet and children’s author Lesléa Newman, who’s written some 75 books according to her website, gained national prominence in 1989 for her children’s book, “Heather Has Two Mommies,” one of the first children’s books to explore LGBTQ issues. Bellerose lives in western Massachusetts. The manuscript won the Bywater Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the James Jones Fellowship, the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, and the Bellwether Endowment. Sally Bellerose was awarded a Fellowship in Literature from the National Endowment for the Arts based on an excerpt from this book. Set in the decade of opening doors, The Girls Club follows the three sisters as they love, argue, and struggle their way through adolescence to womanhood, taking in religion, illness, parenting, sexuality, drugs, and rock ‘n roll on the way. They’re best friends, worst enemies, greatest supporters and biggest detractors. But for Catholic working class girls like Marie, Renee, and Cora Rose LaBarre, sisterhood is a word that covers a multitude of attitudes. The buzzword of the seventies, the key to women’s liberation. The Girls Club is simply a fine novel, which is a joy to read and Sally Bellerose is a writer of great skill and great heart.” - Joan Nestle, author of and co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives Sisterhood. Tough and tender, this is a family story in the truest sense.
“One of our finest writers gives us this best yet portrait of a working class, lesbian coming out in the early 70s-Bellerose knows what to do with history-give it a body, desires, the wonder, fun, lust and longings of the human heart. I’d follow this enormously talented writer to the ends of the earth.” - Lesléa Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies and The Reluctant Daughter “Riveting, gripping, unputdownable, The Girls Club grabbed me by the throat from the very first page. Plus, it’s a blast.” - Susan Stinson author of Venus of Chalk Reading it will help you get through almost anything with more of your humanity intact. “ The Girls Club is incredible-fierce, sexy and wise.
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