In her oral history presented by the Oakland Standard, Elana Dykewomon says she had her first serious relationship when she was seventeen. Seventeen is also the age of Inez, the protagonist of Riverfinger Women, when we first see her with her lover, Abby, curled up in bed.
Inez Riverfingers narrates her story in the style of an open, powerful confession, revealing the difficulty of living as a gay woman in the 1960s. Penned by Dykewomon when she was only twenty-four years old, Riverfinger Women is hailed as a classic of lesbian fiction. Not only does the work champion the heroism of its lesbian characters, it was one of the first novels of its kind to have a happy ending.
Published by the women’s press Daughters, Inc., in 1974, Riverfinger Women is the first of Dykewomon’s seven books, including Beyond the Pale (1997) and Risk (2009). A recipient of the Lambda Literary Award and the Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize, Dykewomon lives in Oakland, California.
Meet Inez and Abby and embark on an exploration of their relationship in this excerpt from Riverfinger Women, which is now available as an ebook:
Riverfinger Women by Elana Dykewomon {Excerpt} by OpenRoadMedia