On the Shelf for February 2026 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 335

On the Shelf for February 2026 The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 335 with Heather Rose Jones

Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.

In this episode we talk about:

• The 2026 fiction line-up:
  • “Between One Word and the Next” by L.J. Lee
  • “Love for Love’s Sake” by Shannon Lippert
  • “Salt for the Unmarried” by Khayelihle Benghu
  • The Sultan’s Vetala by Priya Sridhar
  • The Tale of Gudrun Sigurdsdóttir by Daniel Stride
• Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
  • Reay, Barry. 2009. “Writing the Modern Histories of Homosexual England” in The Historical Journal, 52, 1. pp.213-233
  • Crannell, Marissa. 2015. Utterly Confused Categories: Gender Non-Conformity in Late Medieval and Early Modern Western Europe. Dissertation.
  • Mara-McKay, Nico. 2018. “Becoming Gendered: Two Medieval Approaches to Intersex Gender Assignment” in Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies vol. 7, no. 1.
  • Roelens, Jonas. 2017. “A Woman Like Any Other: Female Sodomy, Hermaphroditism, and Witchcraft in Seventeenth-Century Bruges” in Journal of Women’s History, vol. 29 no. 4, Winter 2017. pp.11-34
  • Loveday, Kiki. “Sister Acts: Victorian Porn, Lesbian Drag, and Queer Reproduction” in Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, vol. 60, no. 2, 2019, pp. 201–26.
  • Larson, Ruth. 1997. “Sex and Civility in a 17th-Century Dialogue: L’Escole des filles” in Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature, no. 47: 497-514.
  • Rivers, Christopher. 1995. “Safe Sex: The Prophylactic Walls of the Cloister in the French Libertine Convent Novel of the Eighteenth Century” in Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 5, No. 3: 381-402
• Book Shopping
  • Wurzelbacher, Karli. 2025. Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History. Huntington: The Heckscher Museum of Art. ISBN 979-8-9925162-1-0
  • Lodge, Sara. 2024. The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-28660-1
  • Boyd, Rebecca. 2024. Exploring Ireland's Viking-Age Towns. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-03-259109-4
• Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
  • Hawthorn & Bitter by Shannon K. Kelly
  • Cut on the Bias by Susanna Bonaretti
  • Before the Swallow Dares by Hannah Perrin-Haynes
  • The Stillness Between Us (Voices of the Hive Trilogy) by Clara Bellweather
  • The Language of Bees (Voices of the Hive Trilogy) by Clara Bellweather
  • The Keeper of Tides (Voices of the Hive Trilogy) by Clara Bellweather
  • The Language of Leaves (The Silent Companions) by Clara Bellweather
  • The Marginal Truth (The Silent Companions) by Clara Bellweather
  • The Stitched Confession (The Silent Companions) by Clara Bellweather
  • Fire Sword and Sea by Vanessa Riley
  • Sword and Silk: The Legend of Julie d'Aubigny by Maeve Campbell
  • La Maupin : The Scandalous Story of Julie d'Aubigny by C.C. Parke
  • The Black Lark's Oath by Tess Wilder
  • Embers on the Moor by Giada Moretti
  • Unfinished Story by Jade Winters
  • The Midnight Daughters by Aeressa
  • The Hidden Petition (Beacon Hill Mysteries #1) by Maeve McQueen
  • The House of Hidden Hearts by Matus Zelenay
  • E.V. Bancroft by E.V. Bancroft
  • A Very Hamble Christmas by E.V. Bancroft
  • Star & Thea at Court by A V Kakkad
  • The Hidden Flower in the Palace: A Queer Court Tragedy by Shin Hwayoon
  • She-Wolf: A Sapphic Beowulf Retelling by E.K. O'Connor
  • The Fifth Day of Her Heart by Richard Cicay
  • The Found Family Victory (Salvation's Edge #1) by Lady K
  • Belonging to the Air by Avery Irons
  • Joe the Pirate by Hubert
  • A Slow and Secret Poison by Carmella Lowkis
• What I’ve been consuming
  • Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)