We set ourselves just one, overwhelmingly horrifying task: write a haiku about each book that we review.

This week’s book is The Monkey’s Mask by Dorothy Porter who is a very successful Australian lesbian poet herself, so basically we had no hope.

Please enjoy our struggle.

And if you’d like to share your very own haiku with the women of Read HER! then check us out on Facebook – we’d love to share in your struggles.

The post Haikus Are Hard: Can Loins Be Akimbo? appeared first on Read HER!.

We’re back for a second show so get ready to improve your cliteracy!

This week’s review has NO SPOILERS so you can listen safely and with impunity whether or not you’ve read this book before.

This Australian lesbian verse novel will delight lovers of hard-boiled and noir genres, poetry, and women!

Here’s Alice’s synopsis, see if it grabs you:

The Monkey’s Mask is an erotic lesbian crime novel written as a collection of poems. Slightly down on her luck private detective Jill Fitzpatrick takes on a new case – a uni student called Mickey has gone missing and her well-off suburbanite parents will pay Jill, discreetly, to find her. Jill chases Mickey’s trail through the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, becoming passionately and dangerously entangled in Mickey’s poetry professor, Diana.

And that’s just the beginning! The form of the story itself is something you have to experience yourself – you’ve got to go and READ HER!

The Monkey’s Mask is available at all good libraries and bookstores.

The post Get Cliterate: Read The Monkey’s Mask by Dorothy Porter! appeared first on Read HER!.

What did Alice do when Sarah Waters visited JOY in 2014 to promote her book The Paying Guests?

She confesses her shameful tale of betrayal to Tennille and Katie in the absolute privacy of the on air studio.

Plus stories of when we’ve met this iconic lesbian author of Tipping The Velvet, Fingersmith, Affinity (and more).

The post Alice’s Shameful Confession appeared first on Read HER!.

As out-and-proud lesbians, Sarah Waters and her body of work have had a profound impact on the Read HER! team.

Waters has generated just the right amount of substantive books. In turn, these have spawned some excellent BBC miniseries and films. The impact of these works has been different for Tennille, Alice and guest Katie, based on their different life experiences, ages and backgrounds. At the same time, some things are still the same.

We discuss word of mouth, literary anticipation, lesbian culture in the 1990s and how sometimes you’ve just got to drive frantically to the only bookstore for miles that will stock the book you need.

The post Sarah Waters and ’90s Lesbian Culture appeared first on Read HER!.

Write a haiku about a lesbian historical crime novel? How hard could it be?!

Alice, Tennille and guest Katie struggle through describing Fingersmith by Sarah Waters in three short lines.

Try it yourself – it’s as hard as you’d think!

And if you’d like to share your very own haiku with the women of Read HER! then check us out on Facebook – we’d love to share in your struggles.

The post Haikus Are Hard To Write: A Lesbian Tragicomedy appeared first on Read HER!.

SPOILER ALERT: Giggle hysterically with Tennille, Alice and guest Katie as they review  international lesbian bestseller Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

BEWARE: if you haven’t read the book yet or if you hate great books, lesbians or dirty, dirty wordplay – stop now!

Otherwise, take a moment to improve your cliteracy with this very first airing of Read HER!

Delve into the slippery depths of one of lesbian literature’s most renowned authors and one of her most lauded books. If you’ve read this one already then you’ll probably remember it well. It’s an unforgettable historical tale of crime, passion, lust and betrayal!

Here’s Tennille’s synopsis, see if it catches your fancy:

Fingersmith is the story of Susan Trinder, an orphan raised by Mrs Sucksby in her den of thieves and abandoned babies. The novel tracks her involvement in an intricate plan to steal an innocent girl’s fortune. A thriller, a love story and a shamelessly Dickensian tale that hurls us into the middle of Lance St and the cacophony of characters that scrape by bouncing from scam to scam. Sue is sent to the countryside to maid for the heiress and lady Maud Lilly and to convince her to marry the dashing and deceitful Mr Rivers.

And that’s just the beginning! But it’s best not to give the rest away – you’ve got to go and READ HER!

Fingersmith is available at all good libraries and bookstores.

The post Get Cliterate: Read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters! appeared first on Read HER!.