When she is old enough to be able to decide for herself, she lets herself be turned into a vampire under the promise of keeping alive the “ethical code” by which her mentors live (never take anything without leaving something behind). It’s about a Black runaway enslaved girl who’s taken under the wing of two vampire women who are a couple. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story. After being initiated into eternal life as one who “shares the blood” by two women there, Gilda spends the next two hundred years searching for a place to call home. This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. This is a book to give to those you want most to find their own strength.”-Dorothy Allison

“Jewelle Gomez sees right into the heart. “ The Gilda Stories is groundbreaking not just for the wild lives it portrays, but for how it portrays them–communally, unapologetically, roaming fiercely over space and time.”–Emma Donoghue, author of Room

I was sent this book as a review copy by the publisher via Edelweiss for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own.īefore Buffy, before Twilight, before Octavia Butler’s Fledgling, there was The Gilda Stories, Jewelle Gomez’s sexy vampire novel.

The gilda stories by jewelle gomez