The Gilda stories

£16.99

This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who ‘shares the blood’ by two women there, Gilda spends the next two hundred years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story.

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Description

‘A groundbreaking work of Afrofuturism before the term was even coined’ Guardian
‘A lush, exciting, inspiring read’ Sarah Waters

The night hides many things . . .

Louisiana, 1850. A young girl escapes slavery and is taken in by two mysterious women. Rumoured to be witches, the pair travel only at night, dress in men’s clothing and seem to know others’ innermost thoughts. But the girl sees the promise of true freedom in their dark glittering eyes: the promise to ‘share the blood’ and live forever. They name her Gilda.

Over the next two hundred years, Gilda moves through unseen spaces: through antebellum brothels, gold-rush bars, Black women’s suffrage groups, hair salons and jazz clubs, searching for a way to exist in the world. Her body, powerful against the passage of time, will know both beauty and horror through the women she desires and the blood she craves. But can Gilda truly outrun the darkness of history and face a future where the lives of everyone she loves are at stake?

An instant queer classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories is a radical reimagining of the vampire myth and astoundingly prescient in its explorations of Blackness, community and female love.

Additional information

Weight 0.44 kg
Dimensions 21.8 × 13.6 × 3.8 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

288

Language

English

Edition

|Reprint

Dewey

813.6 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K