Breaking new ground in historical fiction, this epic novel is an extraordinary testimony to the lives of Russian Jewish lesbians who immigrated to North America at the turn of the twentieth century. Chava, Rose, Gutke and Dovida embark on a courageous journey beyond the Pale of Settlement in Russia and outside the bounds of convention.

Beyond the Pale by Elena Dykewomon

Literature & Fiction

Dykewomon, Elana

World Literature

Press Gang Pub

This collection aims to be sexy, political, and shot through with humour. In free verse as formal as fixed-form poetry, Elena Dykwomon's poems lend weight to the lightest of lesbian sexual gestures. Her subjects range from out feminism to fat politics to her Jewish heritage.

Nothing Will Be As Sweet As the Taste: Selected Poems 1974-1994

LGBTQ+ Books

Onlywomen Pr Ltd

Winner of the Lambda Literary Award: “A page-turner that brings to life turn-of-the-century New York’s Lower East Side.” —Library Journal Born in a Russian-Jewish settlement, Gutke Gurvich is a midwife who immigrates to New York’s Lower East Side with her partner, a woman passing as a man. Their story crosses with that of Chava Meyer, a girl who was attended by Gutke at her birth and was later orphaned during the Kishinev pogrom of 1903. Chava has come to America with the family of her cousin Rose, and the two girls begin working at fourteen. As they live through the oppression and tragedies of their time, Chava and Rose grow to become lovers—and search for a community they can truly call their own. Set in Russia and New York during the early twentieth century and touching on the hallmarks of the Progressive Era—the Women’s Trade Union League, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, anarchist and socialist movements, women’s suffrage, anti-Semitism—Elana Dykewomon’s Beyond the Pale is a richly detailed and moving story, offering a glimpse into a world that is often overlooked. “A wonderful novel.” —Sarah Waters

Beyond the Pale: A Novel

Genre Fiction

Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

Beyond the Pale — winner of the Lambda Literary Award — tells the stories of two Jewish women living through times of darkness and inhumanity in the early 20th century, capturing their undaunted love and courage in luminous and moving prose. The richly textured novel details Gutke Gurvich’s odyssey from her apprenticeship as a midwife in a Russian shtetl to her work in the suffrage movement in New York. Interwoven with her tale is that Chava Meyer, who was attended by Gurvich at her birth and grew up to survive the pogrom that took the lives of her parents. Throughout the book, historical background plays a large part: Jewish faith and traditions, the practice of midwifery, the horrific conditions in prerevolutionary Russia and New York sweatshops, and the determined work of labor unionists and suffragists.

Beyond the Pale

United States

Raincoast Books

Beyond the Pale follows the lives of two women: Gutke Gurvich, who apprentices as a midwife in a Russian Jewish settlement before immigrating to New York and joining the suffrage and labor movements; and Chava Meyer, a Russian Jew whose birth is attended by Gutke. A tour de force sequence involving the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is typical of this book's power. Both epic and intimate, the book takes readers deep inside diverse worlds, with harrowing and heroic stories of midwifery, the Russian pogroms, and early lesbian life.

Since Inez Riverfingers' arrival on the scene in 1974, women have hailed Riverfinger Women as an indispensable classic of lesbian life.Discover for yourself Inez, Abby, and Peggy, and their richly interwined lives. Meet Rainbo Woman and Lucy Bear. Recapture the exhileration and pain of being young and lesbian in the anti-war 1960's in this salty tour de force, this romp thorugh a unique time of personal and sexual discovery.

Riverfinger Women

Naiad Pr

A collection of short stories that engages readers in not only the lesbian lifestyle, relationships, family issues, political concerns, but also the Jewishness of their lives. This is critical; we read to find our reflection, to validate our emotions, history, experiences and dreams. Moon Creek Road will do that for the Jewish women who read it and will engage other lesbians because of its depth, creativity, and emotional exploration of lesbian relationships.

Moon Creek Road

Contemporary

Spinsters, Ink

Praise for Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon:
“One of the most compelling novels I have ever read. . . . A work of remarkable importance.”—The Village Voice
“One of the best books of the year. . . . Compelling, honest and unselfconscious.”—The Toronto Star
“Truly great novels aren’t written very often, but Beyond the Pale deserves all the glowing adjectives available.”—Bay Area Reporter
“A moving chronicle.”—Publishers Weekly
“A page-turner. . . . Recommended for all collections.”—Library Journal
Elana Dykewomon’s extraordinarily well-received novel Beyond the Pale was first published in 1997 and won both the Lambda Literary Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award. It is firmly established as a classic text in the canon of lesbian literature. Risk is the longed-for follow-up from Dykewomon.
Risk is a beautifully told story that spans the years from the mid-eighties to the post-9/11 world. Carol is an idealistic, Berkeley-educated, Jewish lesbian living in Oakland, California. Downwardly mobile, the Berkeley grad makes her living by tutoring high school students. Through Carol’s life, Dykewomon explores the changing times and values in America.
Elana Dykewomon is an activist, author, and teacher, and she has a fiercely dedicated readership that has been eagerly awaiting her next novel for a dozen years. One of the finest thinkers—and writers—the women’s movement has produced, Dykewomon has worked for the last fifteen years as an editor and teacher of composition and creative writing, both independently and for San Francisco State University.

Risk

Bywater Books

Poetry. Jewish Studies. Women's Studies. LGBT Studies. "Elana Dykewomon's poems are reminders not to take anything for granted: to listen to the messages embedded in others' silences, to look beneath the rubble of violence, and to value the pleasures of intimate loving. Presenting the poetry written over the past four decades, What Can I Ask is wise, passionate, and inspirational. I so value this work and always keep it close to my heart."—Irena Klepfisz, Author of A Few Words in the Mother Tongue Elana Dykewomon's poetry bears witness to the lives of lesbians. She asks and demands that we be responsible and responsive to one another; that we bring care, compassion, accountability, and love in the proper proportions. These are poems that help us understand the contours of sexism, homophobia, racism, and anti- Semitism. And they are poems that illuminate what we can ask from and offer one another. Drawing on Dykewomon's impressive body of poetry, WHAT CAN I ASK: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS assembles into a single volume poems from Dykewomon's three published collections, They Will Know Me By My Teeth (Megaera Press, 1976), Fragments from Lesbos (Diaspora Distribution, 1981), and Nothing Will Be As Sweet as the Taste (Onlywomen Press, 1995), as well as a selection of newer, uncollected poems. Dykewomon continues asking questions and reaching for answers, demonstrating the power of poetry to comfort and enrage, inspire and arouse.

What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014 (Sapphic Classic)

Poetry

Sinister Wisdom

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dykewomon, Elana. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dykewomon, Elana

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dykewomon, Elana. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beyond the Pale by Elena Dykewomon

Nothing Will Be As Sweet As the Taste: Selected Poems 1974-1994

Beyond the Pale: A Novel

Beyond the Pale

Beyond the Pale

Riverfinger Women

Moon Creek Road

Risk

What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014 (Sapphic Classic)