Sappho’s Overhead Projector by Bonnie J. Morris is a captivating time travel novel about a quirky women’s history professor who is on a mission to save priceless and well-loved literature written by prominent lesbian authors.
Professor Hannah Stern has been appointed by The Overhead Herself to rescue lesbian literature from being destroyed or locked away in dark storage centers until they rot and waste away. Her undercover mission lands her a one-year contract as an archivist at the Library of Congress. Hannah receives numerous phone calls from the spirits of the great lesbian foremothers who plead with her to save their books and place them into the hands of budding lesbian readers. Hannah is determined to give these newly-out young women the opportunity to fall hopelessly in love with these phenomenal authors and their unforgettable novels.
Will Hannah be able to preserve their legacy and halt lesbian erasure so that future generations could see how their foremothers lived and loved?
Will Isabel, Hannah’s soulmate and the owner of Sappho’s Bar and Grill, have to use her powers to save the bar membership and women’s herstory as well?
The Characters
Dr. Hannah Stern is a women’s history professor who has taken a position as an archivist at the Library of Congress. She is passionate about preserving lesbian heritage and she is a certified bookworm as well! I really wish The Overhead Herself could work her magic and allow me to meet Hannah so that we could fangirl over the thought-provoking lesbian classics and formulate a plan to ensure that lesbian literature is placed into the hands of every young girl who loves girls no matter where they live.
Isabel is the proud owner of Sappho’s Bar and Grill and she is Hannah’s lover. She is the glue that holds the women loving community together at Sappho’s Bar and Grill. I would have liked to try one of Isabel’s mystical drinks so that I could take the ride of my life through time and space and meet the amazing lesbian writers who dared to immortalize their love for women in paper and ink. I have so much love for Isabel because she is the kind of woman I have spent countless nights dreaming about since I was a shy little girl.
The Writing Style
This is the second book that I’ve devoured from this author and I must say that she went above and beyond to give me the kind of story that I have always craved. Bonnie J. Morris created a bridge between women’s history and our current time. I was blown away by her flawless writing and her call for us to remember our foremothers and the sacrifices they made. I intend to heed that call because there’s no way that I could ever forget the heartfelt pleas that saturated every word she wrote.
The Pros
I am a huge herstory nerd! My heart melted when Bonnie J. Morris brought all of my favorite lesbian authors to life. While I was reading this story, I felt such a deep longing to take all of my lesbian classics into my arms and keep them close to me so that I could shower them with a lot of love and gratitude because these books made me fall in love with my sexuality and they preserved my sanity in every sense of the word.
The Cons
Of course I have a complaint! I didn’t want this awesome story to end. I’m keeping my fingers crossed with the hope that Sappho will convince the author to write a sequel to this book!
The Conclusion
Are you looking for a book that will take you on a wild ride across time where you can meet up with the greatest lesbian authors of all time? If you just answered yes, then you’re in for a fabulous treat because this story took me on a wild romp through the ages and I basked in the glory of book adoration and a sisterhood that crossed all boundaries. Isabel and all of the regulars at Sappho’s Bar and Grill encouraged me to tag along with Hannah during her undercover mission to save our precious lesbian literature. This entire story spoke to me on so many levels and it made me hunger for more of this author’s words because I am a die-hard feminist. This novel introduced me to the joy and comfort that go hand in hand with supporting women’s bookstores, attending women’s music festivals and being a member of a close-knit, women centered community.
Excerpt from Sappho’s Overhead Projector by Bonnie J. Morris
For this was She. The great Professor-in-the-Sky, the Overhead, the Overhead Projector herself. The grand displaced department chair who orbited, like Amelia, in search of ways to restore women’s history from its shattered vessels to its source. This was She, the Matriarch, the Goddess, who had lost her job to patriarchy, to God the Father. In that far more important and longer-unresolved tension than Hannah’s own academic turnover, this was the wise one who had been told a better system was in place, a new telling of origins, a better explanation of Creation. And for how long had She floated, out of office, her calendar of rituals forbidden, her followers declared insane, heretical, banned and burned and pilloried and outcast? With rage, She drummed long fingers on Her desk, swept papers and clay figurines off its top where down to earth they fell, long buried, marveled at when found. And all her powers locked in that Projector, which sometimes hummed to life and turned on without warning, projecting truth and justice, downward-beaming. For the many feminists who had returned to Her, how harsh that office hours were near impossible to get. And classes cancelled, but for times like these, when portals opened for the lost—like Hannah.
“Call me Ova,” said She, anticipating Hannah’s question. “It’s short for Overhead, as you see. And Sappho is just one of my angels in waiting, as is Amelia, who finally found the flight she wanted, orbiting earth in protection of women, in service to me.” She poured a jewel-like coffee brew from what had once been Hannah’s old Thermos bottle, serving them both in Hannah’s souvenir music festival mugs. Sappho, standing guard in her worn sandals, said “No thanks,” in lilting Greek: Oxi efcharisto.
And the interview began. For, of course, this was what it was, the next and ultimate job interview for Hannah, with the goddess CEO, the Dean of Deans, the Big Document. Hannah dared one burning sip of Ova’s coffee; instantly, she could hear the rhetoric of feminism pounding in her ears.
So you lost your job due to budget cuts. Because women’s history isn’t valued, yes. But, dear one: that is a very old story; they pushed me out from My job, too; and surely you can see you are not the first to be unjustly fired. Most women never gain the opportunities you’ve had. Let’s look.
The overhead projector whirred again, showing Hannah other scenes from history, anguished women’s faces, shortened lives.
Get This Book On Amazon
(this link works for Amazon UK, US, Germany, Italy and Canada)
[tweetthis]I just read this review for Sappho’s Overhead Projector by Bonnie J. Morris[/tweetthis]
Series
Sappho’s Overhead Projector
Bits and Bobs
- ISBN number: 9781612941400
- Publisher: Bywater Books
- Bonnie J. Morris Online
If you enjoyed this book then you should also look at
Note: I received a free review copy of Sappho’s Overhead Projector by Bonnie J. Morris. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
