A Seal upon My Heart

Rating:
Summary: An unexpected treasure of spiritual lesbian fiction
Review: This book seems to defy categories. It's a lesbian romance, a melodrama of America's current culture wars, and a coming-of-age story. The main character, Sharon McCall, is the daughter of a Baptist fundamentalist minister who is (as you'd expect) actively anti-gay. Sharon, of course, is a closeted lesbian who falls in love with her liberal classmate Gennie, and Gennie goes to a liberal college while Sharon commutes from her conservative Bible school to be with her. But this nutshell plot doesn't reveal how sophisticated the characters and their relationships become. Sharon still remains true to an evangelical Christian faith, seeking for ways to reconcile it with both her gay sexuality and an intellectual bent. When Sharon is outed and her father is determined to cure her by force, the lines of demarcation aren't as clearly drawn, as Sharon's Bible college punishes the students who exposed her, and her Christian friends join the ranks of freethinkers and militant queers to defend her. The book is a long read, but I couldn't help picking it up to see how its heroine grows and changes - and helps those around her to do the same. This is an unexpected treasure, and one I recommend to anyone who wants to read lesbian fiction that touches spirit and mind.