After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz | Review

"We were going to be Sappho, but how did Sappho begin to become herself?"

After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz is a historical reimagining of female artists and activists across the turn of the 20th century through the first world war. Women such as Virginia Woolf, Colette, Eileen Gray, and Lina Poletti: some household names today, and some having fallen through the cracks of history. After Sappho takes their lives and weaves them together as they fight for liberation and justice for women in the early 1900s. 

This book is told in a series of vignettes, jumping around in time. The first entries are from the 1870s, the last ones from the 1920s. Along with glimpses into the lives of the women this novel follows, we also get fragments of Sappho's poetry, laws and amendments from various countries, and excerpts from plays, books, and newspaper clippings. While the narrative is very scattered, you come away with a full understanding of the lives that were explored in these pages. 

The best part of this book is the writing, by far. There are so many beautiful sentences, paragraphs, and even full pages that I wanted to highlight. I've never wanted to steal a library book so badly in my life (for the record, I did not in fact write in the library book. I will, however, be buying my own copy as soon as I can, so I can go back and highlight my favorite passages). Here are just some of my favorite quotes from this novel:

"A poet is someone who stands on the door sill and sees the room before her as a sea whose waves she might dive through...a poet is someone who swims inexplicably away from the shore, only to arrive at an island of her own invention."

"A woman...is someone who gathers the threads of her life into her hands and goes onwards."

While there isn't much of a plot...actually, there is no plot. This book is pure vibes. While there is no plot, I do feel like you learn so much about these women, even if what is being said isn't technically the true history. You have to remember that After Sappho is a reimagining of these lives. Schwartz took bits and pieces of these women sprinkled throughout history and painted a masterpiece around them. And unless you know everything about these women, I feel like a lot of the information given will be a surprise. I, for one, didn't know anything about Virginia Woolf, let alone that she was in an intense romantic relationship with another woman for nearly twenty years. But now all I can think about is Virginia and Vita Sackville-West, lounging on a chaise and drinking coffee, and reading Sappho aloud to each other. 

"We dreamed of islands where we could write poems that kept our lovers up all night. In our letters, we murmured the fragments of our desires to each other, breaking the lines with our impatience."

I recommend After Sappho to anyone who loves poetry, beautiful women, and social justice. 

I gave After Sappho a CAWPILE score of 9.00, which of course comes out to a whopping 5 out of 5 stars.

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You have no idea how happy I am that this turned out to be a 5 star read. When I added it to my TBR and talked about it in my 2023 anticipated releases, I literally had no idea what it was about. I saw the title and said "I want that one." So the fact that this ended up being so incredible is a true miracle. 

Have you read After Sappho yet? If so, what did you think of it? Let me know in the comments, or DM me on Instagram (link is in the sidebar under "More Media"). 

Until next time, I'll leave you with one of my favorite Sappho fragments, 24c

"We live

...the opposite

...daring"