LGBT Debut Fiction: The Brink, Austin Bunn, Harper Perennial Do U., Mark S.

Transgender Fiction: Defiant, Michael Scott Monje, Jr., Autonomous Press Lost Boi, Sassafras Lowry, Arsenal Pulp Press Tiny Pieces of Skull, or a Lesson in Manners, Roz Kaveny, Team Anjelica Publishing. Lum’s courageous journey toward independence makes her a heroine worth rooting for, and readers will find themselves missing her company after the final page turns.Bisexual Literature (Fiction & Nonfiction): Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham, Emily Bingham, Farrar, Straus and Giroux The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, Anna North, Penguin Random House/Blue Rider Press The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson, Hogarth Eat My Heart Out, Zoe Pilger, The Feminist Press My Riastrad, Kevin Hogan, Antrim House. This compact novel is a treat for those who appreciate character-centered historical fiction. The social context of the times is finely sketched, too: the people’s Appalachian dialect, their personal pride and widespread poverty, and their wariness towards outsiders – both the dark-skinned “Melungeons” living up on the mountain, and Yankees from the government who want buy up their farms. Ware writes sensitively of Lum’s childhood visit to the doctor, who discourages her from ever marrying, and the close relationship with her grandmother that endures despite the older woman’s refusal to acknowledge her differences. Although this makes the narrative feel jumpy at first, it gradually fills in the picture about the circumstances that shaped her life. Lum’s background is parceled out bit by bit, in chapters dating back to earlier points in time.

Lum puts up with their demands, for what choice does she have? That is, until kindly neighbors and the coming of the Blue Ridge Parkway offer new possibilities. She lives with her brother and his wife half the year, her cousin Margaret and her husband the other. She’s a talented cook and good with little children, and by 1933, she’s moved on to caring for a second generation of relatives.

An intersex woman who does her best to hide her condition, Lum secretly collects trading cards of sideshow performers, recognizing them as kindred spirits. But where? Like a broom in the corner – used, then put back?”īorn with the 20th century, Miss Columbia Carson – known as Lum to all and sundry – has always been a misfit, both in her Shenandoah Valley town and within her own family. “‘There will always be a place for you, Lum.’ Her grandmother’s words echoed through her thoughts.

Lum by Libby Ware