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Lilac Mines
“Klein’s characters are compelling, one and all.”—San Diego Union-Tribune
Felix Ketay, a twenty-five-year-old Los Angeles dyke, has her foundations shaken when she’s ditched by her pomosexual girlfriend and then gay-bashed on the streets of West Hollywood.
Felix’s old-school lesbian aunt, Anna Lisa Hill, ran away from home in 1965 at age nineteen and ended up in Lilac Mines, a small town in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills with a small but tight-knit butch/femme community.
When Felix joins her aunt in Lilac Mines hoping to discover a place of respite, Anna Lisa proves stand-offish, so Felix devotes herself to investigating the town’s one hundred-year-old mystery: the disappearance of sixteen-year-old Lilac Ambrose in the mine shafts that run beneath the mountain.
Felix learns that finding an authentic history is never easy, but Lilac Mines—with its abandoned mines, unknowable secrets, and the occasional quirky-cute thrift store employee—might not be such a bad place to try.
Cheryl Klein is a shameless Angeleno, quiet pescatarian, and shameful tabloid reader. She lives in Los Angeles where she is West Coast director of Poets & Writers, Inc.
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First published June 1, 2009
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About the author
Cheryl Klein
6 books44 followersCheryl E. Klein is the author of CRYBABY, a memoir about desperately wanting a baby and getting cancer instead (forthcoming from Brown Paper Press in 2022). She is also the author of two works of fiction: THE COMMUTERS (City Works Press) and LILAC MINES (Manic D Press). She writes and edits for MUTHA Magazine (muthamagazine.com) and blogs about the intersection of life, art, and carbohydrates at breadandbread.blogspot.com.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 26, 2014
An intriguing story of two lesbian women in different times! I really loved the narrator who made the story so alive.
The only problem was the ending . . . the "mystery" that ran through the whole story didn't get a proper "solution" - IMHO!
The only problem was the ending . . . the "mystery" that ran through the whole story didn't get a proper "solution" - IMHO!
February 27, 2019
4.5...might roll up to 5
I’m sad this book isn’t more well known despite being out for 10 years. It’s about different generations of lesbian women and how they interact and intersect. The two main point of views are a modern lesbian woman from the 2000s who got dumped by her gf and visits her lesbian aunt she never met, and said lesbian aunt who is nothing like what she expected her to be. The story follows different time lines and spans decades.
I’m sad this book isn’t more well known despite being out for 10 years. It’s about different generations of lesbian women and how they interact and intersect. The two main point of views are a modern lesbian woman from the 2000s who got dumped by her gf and visits her lesbian aunt she never met, and said lesbian aunt who is nothing like what she expected her to be. The story follows different time lines and spans decades.
November 28, 2018
Honestly, for me and how it made me feel. This is one of the best books I've ever read. I loved the characters, I loved the multiple narrative and I enjoyed living vicariously a bunch of different lesbian lives that both excited and informed me about the types of sapphics who came before me.
My only jibe is that at times I got a lil confused about who was talking but with a bit of context it wasn't hard to work out and it certainly at no point removed my immersion. I would highly recommend this book to any book lovers, Sapphic or otherwise and have actively recommended it to anyone who will listen in the library.
Overall a super enjoyable read and one that I will definitely revisit.
My only jibe is that at times I got a lil confused about who was talking but with a bit of context it wasn't hard to work out and it certainly at no point removed my immersion. I would highly recommend this book to any book lovers, Sapphic or otherwise and have actively recommended it to anyone who will listen in the library.
Overall a super enjoyable read and one that I will definitely revisit.
July 15, 2010
Felix is young, hip, all-LA and gay. Her aunt Anna Lisa is everything Felix isn't. Or is she? Lilac Mines is a compassionate exploration of the lives of these two women, and how the times they lived in made them so very different. The historical story of Anna Lisa's coming-of-age in central California in the early 1960s creates a compelling contrast to Felix's fun-loving early 21st-century life in fashion magazines and West Hollywood clubs. The story will carry you through the book; the characters will stay with you long after.
December 21, 2020
Recently reread this book from my paperback shelves.
This review was originally written by me and posted to Lambda Literary on March 2, 2010
Lilac Mines was born a boomtown in the mining period of the late 1800s. Its boon was a silver mine. Lilac Ambrose was a miner’s daughter, who vanished into the mine in 1899. The novel Lilac Mines, Cheryl Klein’s first novel, plays out against the backdrop of uncovering what happened to young Miss Ambrose by two different generations of women, who happen to be aunt and niece. (Warning: spoilers within)
In 2002, Felix, an androgynous mostly comfortable gay young woman, is out partying one night with her friends when she is attacked on her way to her car—in mostly gay-safe Los Angeles. This throws her life and outlook into a tailspin. She resists then accepts her mother’s suggestion to visit her aunt out of town until she can get it back together. Something of a city versus country life clash is certainly bound to ensue as she drives off in her lavender Beetle for rural Lilac Mines.
Felix’s maternal aunt is Anna Lisa Hill. Her history in Lilac Mines is both simpler and rougher than Felix can understand, so they each give the other a wide berth for much of the book. In 1967 Anna Lisa went looking for San Francisco, and others like her — The Girls of 3-B, inspired by one of her lesbian pulp novels. The bus stops in Lilac Mines. She encounters the mystery of Lilac Ambrose, and a nascent but growing community of gay women living in an old church as a commune. This was the beginning of feminism, the exploration of female power, and the core of the butch-femme period, where the dichotomy was strictly adhered to among women who loved women. Anna Lisa becomes “Al” and establishes a life, working in the local wood mill, and loving Meg, one of the other women in the group. Though all is not perfect, it’s home, until “Al” must become Anna Lisa once again and return to her family when her father falls ill. She doesn’t return for years, marrying instead to her parents’ wishes, avoiding children, and living falsely until news of Meg’s suicide wakes her to return to Lilac Mines, now literally becoming a ghost town. The mill is closed up, everyone is leaving, and in a very short time, Anna Lisa is the only soul for miles. She even has to go to neighboring Beedleborough for her mail when mail service stops, where she gets a job in a small diner. That gives her the experience though to open her own roadside baked good stand and eventually she becomes a cornerstone of Lilac Mines’ rebirth when she opens a small bakery near the town’s center.
The reader experiences the revelations of both Felix and Anna Lisa’s life in the present tense. The immediacy of the approach draws the reader in deeply and quickly. The detail is rich and real. The narrative voices are authentic for both Felix and Anna Lisa. And as Felix and Anna Lisa — separately in their own eras — uncover more and more about Lilac Ambrose’s short town-inspiring life, they are inspired to recreate their own lives with a purpose and meaning unique to them. Felix is at first appalled that Anna Lisa doesn’t seem to be out. When they finally come together and their stories merge, when Anna Lisa actually relates her story — and the parts of Lilac Mines’ history that she only heard second hand while she was married and away — the reader gets the sense that the clash is finally transforming to a mesh instead. The generational gap is closing bit by bit.
Anna Lisa learns the long stretch of story second hand. The experiences of Meg and the others in the commune while she was away and married are told in present tense as well as from Meg’s point of view. Structurally, this was jarring after it was firmly established for more than half the book that the narrative voice was to be passed back and forth between only Felix and Anna Lisa. It’s set off as the beginning of “Part II” in the novel space. Still it felt as though the information could have been delivered in another way. This was clearly a generational experience that needed to be conveyed somehow in order to give context to Anna Lisa’s choices. So although the information is crucial to the story, perhaps this could have been shorter, or presented via letters Meg never sent and left in her home, or via conversations with the last lesbian couple before they leave town.
The book solidly comes together — just as Felix and Anna Lisa do — in the final chapters. And Felix’s final “here’s what I think happened” in the story of Lilac Ambrose and Calla Hogane, daughter of the local newspaper family, fills the characters and the reader with a sense of accomplishment. Not only has a more than one hundred year old mystery been resolved, but a comfort with their own lives and choices, and each other, has been achieved.
Such is the magic of Lilac Mines, a place where one can be lost, only to be found.
This review was originally written by me and posted to Lambda Literary on March 2, 2010
Lilac Mines was born a boomtown in the mining period of the late 1800s. Its boon was a silver mine. Lilac Ambrose was a miner’s daughter, who vanished into the mine in 1899. The novel Lilac Mines, Cheryl Klein’s first novel, plays out against the backdrop of uncovering what happened to young Miss Ambrose by two different generations of women, who happen to be aunt and niece. (Warning: spoilers within)
In 2002, Felix, an androgynous mostly comfortable gay young woman, is out partying one night with her friends when she is attacked on her way to her car—in mostly gay-safe Los Angeles. This throws her life and outlook into a tailspin. She resists then accepts her mother’s suggestion to visit her aunt out of town until she can get it back together. Something of a city versus country life clash is certainly bound to ensue as she drives off in her lavender Beetle for rural Lilac Mines.
Felix’s maternal aunt is Anna Lisa Hill. Her history in Lilac Mines is both simpler and rougher than Felix can understand, so they each give the other a wide berth for much of the book. In 1967 Anna Lisa went looking for San Francisco, and others like her — The Girls of 3-B, inspired by one of her lesbian pulp novels. The bus stops in Lilac Mines. She encounters the mystery of Lilac Ambrose, and a nascent but growing community of gay women living in an old church as a commune. This was the beginning of feminism, the exploration of female power, and the core of the butch-femme period, where the dichotomy was strictly adhered to among women who loved women. Anna Lisa becomes “Al” and establishes a life, working in the local wood mill, and loving Meg, one of the other women in the group. Though all is not perfect, it’s home, until “Al” must become Anna Lisa once again and return to her family when her father falls ill. She doesn’t return for years, marrying instead to her parents’ wishes, avoiding children, and living falsely until news of Meg’s suicide wakes her to return to Lilac Mines, now literally becoming a ghost town. The mill is closed up, everyone is leaving, and in a very short time, Anna Lisa is the only soul for miles. She even has to go to neighboring Beedleborough for her mail when mail service stops, where she gets a job in a small diner. That gives her the experience though to open her own roadside baked good stand and eventually she becomes a cornerstone of Lilac Mines’ rebirth when she opens a small bakery near the town’s center.
The reader experiences the revelations of both Felix and Anna Lisa’s life in the present tense. The immediacy of the approach draws the reader in deeply and quickly. The detail is rich and real. The narrative voices are authentic for both Felix and Anna Lisa. And as Felix and Anna Lisa — separately in their own eras — uncover more and more about Lilac Ambrose’s short town-inspiring life, they are inspired to recreate their own lives with a purpose and meaning unique to them. Felix is at first appalled that Anna Lisa doesn’t seem to be out. When they finally come together and their stories merge, when Anna Lisa actually relates her story — and the parts of Lilac Mines’ history that she only heard second hand while she was married and away — the reader gets the sense that the clash is finally transforming to a mesh instead. The generational gap is closing bit by bit.
Anna Lisa learns the long stretch of story second hand. The experiences of Meg and the others in the commune while she was away and married are told in present tense as well as from Meg’s point of view. Structurally, this was jarring after it was firmly established for more than half the book that the narrative voice was to be passed back and forth between only Felix and Anna Lisa. It’s set off as the beginning of “Part II” in the novel space. Still it felt as though the information could have been delivered in another way. This was clearly a generational experience that needed to be conveyed somehow in order to give context to Anna Lisa’s choices. So although the information is crucial to the story, perhaps this could have been shorter, or presented via letters Meg never sent and left in her home, or via conversations with the last lesbian couple before they leave town.
The book solidly comes together — just as Felix and Anna Lisa do — in the final chapters. And Felix’s final “here’s what I think happened” in the story of Lilac Ambrose and Calla Hogane, daughter of the local newspaper family, fills the characters and the reader with a sense of accomplishment. Not only has a more than one hundred year old mystery been resolved, but a comfort with their own lives and choices, and each other, has been achieved.
Such is the magic of Lilac Mines, a place where one can be lost, only to be found.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 16, 2025
What I liked most about Lilac Mines was how it weaved history into the present day. We don't spend nearly enough time learning about what people had to endure living authentically in the past with rights we take for granted and are at risk loosing constantly. This novel displays it in spades, from job prejudice, family isolation, carving out your identity and the chosen family that recognize you. It was really interesting to learn more about that time and I wish we had more novels that did this.
This book is the same vibe as the song "If She Ever Leaves Me" by The Highwome, Brnadi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires"
This book is the same vibe as the song "If She Ever Leaves Me" by The Highwome, Brnadi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires"
November 30, 2022
Contemp….1960s-2000s small town CA….queer women from two generations, community and choices guide-railed by society. Looks like I’m reviewer #72.
June 5, 2013
Klein's first book was a collection of short stories. In "Lilac Mines'" afterward, Klein thanks the people who helped her develop numerous scenes into a novel. These two pieces of information informed my opinion of the book.
"Lilac Mines" is 350 pages long, but it crams a lot into those 300 pages. The book claims to follow three generations of women: Lilac Ambrose and Calla Hogan, two girls who went missing in the late 1800s; Anna Lisa, Meggie, and others, a group of Lesbians living in small-town California in the 60s; and Felix, a queer young woman living in present day. In the beginning of the book, we learn about Anna Lisa (and her friends) and Felix in different subtitled characters. The town both women come to live in is named Lilac Mines, after the missing girl Lilac. This girl becomes symbolic to both women at different times in their lives (contacted as seances, her ghost glimpsed out of the corner of an eye, a mystery to cope with an attempted sexual assault.) (Please keep in mind, this novel isn't really supernatural. There are two brief sections that consider Lilac as a ghost, and they involve a) heavy drug use or b) heavy grief.)
Each of these plots was compelling. However, I don't think Klein could manage them in the novel format -- I'm not sure they were meant for the novel format.
Felix moves to Lilac Mines to live with her aunt, Anna Lisa, after she is sexually assaulted. She becomes fascinated with the Lilac case and attempts to solve it, relating to Lilac. If she can heal Lilac's memory, she can heal her own. However, Klein allows this aspect of the plot to waver. Lilac is briefly brought up in Anna Lisa's plot, but not in a way that keeps her alive as a person, as opposed to a symbol. Although she was very interesting, the concluding chapter that followed Lilac's plot (the only section to do so,) did not hold much interest for me. I had already lost my commitment at that point.
Anna Lisa's plot was definitely really interesting. I was the most invested in it, and the characters caused strong reactions in me. I loved Meggie and Imogen, and despised Petra. However, the fact that the beginning of the book switched between Anna Lisa's/Felix's narratives, only to predominantly conclude with those of Anna Lisa and her friends, really bothered me. Perhaps this choice was made to bring the reality, as opposed to Felix's romanticized version, of Anna Lisa's life to the open.
I felt that Felix and Lilac were the most unbelievable characters. But, at least Lilac (as presented in the final scenes,) was interesting and I could empathize with her. The opening scenes of Felix's sexual assault really bothered me as a survivor, and I wasn't sure I could continue. I could definitely empathize. (It wasn't that the writing was bad or idealized the assault, it was just too close to heart.) But, as we got to know Felix, she was a little too obnoxious. I am by no means a fashionista, but the endless descriptions of her wardrobe got old and just sounded unrealistic. What was realistic and believable were her attitudes toward her aunt, which really bothered me. I did like her change throughout the book though.
This book took a lot of aspects of lesbian history and examined them through different ages. I found it really interesting, and really enjoyed reading how the different eras were and how women from different eras/movements interpreted each other. Although it may be hard to believe that Lilac loved other women, as some characters concluded; although it may be hard to believe a lesbian bar could survive in such a small town in the 60s (or even today;) although this, plus two closely related relatives being lesbian, could be hard to buy, Klein definitely sold me for the most part. What could have been a didactic novel was not.
Although some of Klein's metaphors were off, her prose is lush and illustrative.
Overall, a good read for lesbians. However, I think it would have been better as a short story collection, each woman getting their own section.
"Lilac Mines" is 350 pages long, but it crams a lot into those 300 pages. The book claims to follow three generations of women: Lilac Ambrose and Calla Hogan, two girls who went missing in the late 1800s; Anna Lisa, Meggie, and others, a group of Lesbians living in small-town California in the 60s; and Felix, a queer young woman living in present day. In the beginning of the book, we learn about Anna Lisa (and her friends) and Felix in different subtitled characters. The town both women come to live in is named Lilac Mines, after the missing girl Lilac. This girl becomes symbolic to both women at different times in their lives (contacted as seances, her ghost glimpsed out of the corner of an eye, a mystery to cope with an attempted sexual assault.) (Please keep in mind, this novel isn't really supernatural. There are two brief sections that consider Lilac as a ghost, and they involve a) heavy drug use or b) heavy grief.)
Each of these plots was compelling. However, I don't think Klein could manage them in the novel format -- I'm not sure they were meant for the novel format.
Felix moves to Lilac Mines to live with her aunt, Anna Lisa, after she is sexually assaulted. She becomes fascinated with the Lilac case and attempts to solve it, relating to Lilac. If she can heal Lilac's memory, she can heal her own. However, Klein allows this aspect of the plot to waver. Lilac is briefly brought up in Anna Lisa's plot, but not in a way that keeps her alive as a person, as opposed to a symbol. Although she was very interesting, the concluding chapter that followed Lilac's plot (the only section to do so,) did not hold much interest for me. I had already lost my commitment at that point.
Anna Lisa's plot was definitely really interesting. I was the most invested in it, and the characters caused strong reactions in me. I loved Meggie and Imogen, and despised Petra. However, the fact that the beginning of the book switched between Anna Lisa's/Felix's narratives, only to predominantly conclude with those of Anna Lisa and her friends, really bothered me. Perhaps this choice was made to bring the reality, as opposed to Felix's romanticized version, of Anna Lisa's life to the open.
I felt that Felix and Lilac were the most unbelievable characters. But, at least Lilac (as presented in the final scenes,) was interesting and I could empathize with her. The opening scenes of Felix's sexual assault really bothered me as a survivor, and I wasn't sure I could continue. I could definitely empathize. (It wasn't that the writing was bad or idealized the assault, it was just too close to heart.) But, as we got to know Felix, she was a little too obnoxious. I am by no means a fashionista, but the endless descriptions of her wardrobe got old and just sounded unrealistic. What was realistic and believable were her attitudes toward her aunt, which really bothered me. I did like her change throughout the book though.
This book took a lot of aspects of lesbian history and examined them through different ages. I found it really interesting, and really enjoyed reading how the different eras were and how women from different eras/movements interpreted each other. Although it may be hard to believe that Lilac loved other women, as some characters concluded; although it may be hard to believe a lesbian bar could survive in such a small town in the 60s (or even today;) although this, plus two closely related relatives being lesbian, could be hard to buy, Klein definitely sold me for the most part. What could have been a didactic novel was not.
Although some of Klein's metaphors were off, her prose is lush and illustrative.
Overall, a good read for lesbians. However, I think it would have been better as a short story collection, each woman getting their own section.
September 11, 2009
Personally, I loathe spoilers when it comes to fiction. Books, television, movies: it doesn't matter, I only want to know enough to be able to tell if it's something I want to read or see. I've been reading Cheryl's blog Bread and Bread for a couple of years now, long entertained by the humor in her anecdotes. If her book had been available at my library, I would've checked it out without a second thought. I'm typically a read it, love it, then buy it sort of person.
The tipping point that lead me to buy first, read later was an interview Cheryl conducted for The Bilerico Project, a roundup of queer news and opinion, with Terry Wolverton about being gay writers of different generations. The beauty of it for me is that there's no spoilers since it's about Wolverton's book, but you still get a feel for Cheryl's, as well as a taste of her A-game writing (it's excellent).
Wolverton subsequently interviewed Klein and wrote a good non-spoilery teaser:
Well worth a read even if you have to pony up the cash to buy it.
The tipping point that lead me to buy first, read later was an interview Cheryl conducted for The Bilerico Project, a roundup of queer news and opinion, with Terry Wolverton about being gay writers of different generations. The beauty of it for me is that there's no spoilers since it's about Wolverton's book, but you still get a feel for Cheryl's, as well as a taste of her A-game writing (it's excellent).
Wolverton subsequently interviewed Klein and wrote a good non-spoilery teaser:
In Lilac Mines, the twenty-something protagonist, Felix Ketay, finds her identity collapsing when the structures that held supported it--her relationship to Eva, a po-mo-sexual lawyer; her copywriting job for a fashion magazine; and the assumption that being queer in West Hollywood in 2002 is without danger--begin to collapse. She seeks refuge with her lesbian aunt in the small town of Lilac Mines and tries to mine the history of an earlier generation to better understand herself.I really enjoyed Lilac Mines. Her characters are distinct; even those who are only around for a short while feel as though they have lives that continue beyond the page. The multiple plot lines are easy to follow and deftly interwoven, an impressive feat considering the scope of the story. Inventive metaphors and similes made me smile as I read. In Lilac Mines, I see an author who loves language, squeezing every drop out of it.
Well worth a read even if you have to pony up the cash to buy it.
July 14, 2010
This is a complicated one. About half-way through, I was so depressed I wondered if it would get even three stars. I feared it might be another Stone Butch Blues (it's not, thankfully). I think I was more traumatized by that than I realized. This is a fascinating take on the butch/femme days and their transition to well...we're still working on that I think. I feel like I lived a lifetime in this book, that for the most part, spans the decade 1965 to 1975--perhaps one of the most critical ten-year periods in the lives of lesbians and women. I hadn't really thought of it much, but wow, what a culture change.
There are a lot of time shifts. Each chapter begins with who the POV character is and the year. It follows 20-something Felix in the early 2000s as she visits her lesbian aunt, Anna Lisa, whose story we see going back to 1965 when she first came out. I got a little whipsawed by the shifts in time. The book is also divided into parts, the second of which brings in a ton more POVs. Basically, we get everyone's take on things. It's well done, though. The mystery seems more a ploy than real plot. Felix is pretty half-hearted about solving it.
In the end, I liked it. I didn't feel particularly close to any of the characters, though, and I had a hard time believing this small town could have such a thriving lesbian population. It was also a pretty darn big small town. I thought the writing began a bit "cute" and trendy, but once real action takes place the author settles down and tells an interesting story with a vivid voice.
It is, for all that, a book that will stick with me and gave me a lot to think about. And that's wonderful.
One thing I'm learning by blitzing through so many books is the sense of buildup and follow-through. Almost no matter what I think of a book going in, there comes a point where I just can't put it down and have to finish. I don't think I had quite grasped that on a conscious level.
There are a lot of time shifts. Each chapter begins with who the POV character is and the year. It follows 20-something Felix in the early 2000s as she visits her lesbian aunt, Anna Lisa, whose story we see going back to 1965 when she first came out. I got a little whipsawed by the shifts in time. The book is also divided into parts, the second of which brings in a ton more POVs. Basically, we get everyone's take on things. It's well done, though. The mystery seems more a ploy than real plot. Felix is pretty half-hearted about solving it.
In the end, I liked it. I didn't feel particularly close to any of the characters, though, and I had a hard time believing this small town could have such a thriving lesbian population. It was also a pretty darn big small town. I thought the writing began a bit "cute" and trendy, but once real action takes place the author settles down and tells an interesting story with a vivid voice.
It is, for all that, a book that will stick with me and gave me a lot to think about. And that's wonderful.
One thing I'm learning by blitzing through so many books is the sense of buildup and follow-through. Almost no matter what I think of a book going in, there comes a point where I just can't put it down and have to finish. I don't think I had quite grasped that on a conscious level.
February 19, 2012
You know how sometimes you just look at a book and you know instinctively it is going to be a good one? well I thought this the moment Lilac Mines popped through the front door for us to review.
It is set in two time spans, you meet Felix who resides in 2002 and her Aunt Anna Lisa who you read about in the mid 60's to late 70's. Felix is coming to terms with being dumped by her girlfriend and being assaulted in LA, her mother sends her to live with her Aunt who is also a lesbian and who ran away from home in the mid 60's, so afraid to be who she really was with her family.
Into this equation you get to learn about the ghosts of the town Lilac Mines, in the late 80's. A girl of that name simply vanished, the town fell apart after her disappearance and many stories sprung up about her and what could have happened. Felix loses herself in the mystery, she finds her Aunt unresponsive so makes her own entertainment elsewhere.
As the book progresses the story of the aunt and the niece become ever more entwined.
I throughly enjoyed the book, I really got to know the characters and felt for them. Do we take for granted how easy it is to be a lesbian in this day and age and what all those before us did for the cause. The mystery is Lilac Mines kept me guessing as well.. there were so many layers to this story it kept me guessing until the end.
And as if that wasn't enough there are also a couple of mentions of my favourite band in there as well - 'The Beach Boys'.
Thanks very much Cheryl for a brilliant book! Cheryl will be our 'celeb of the month' next month on our LnL website http://www.lesbiansnorthlondon.co.uk/
It is set in two time spans, you meet Felix who resides in 2002 and her Aunt Anna Lisa who you read about in the mid 60's to late 70's. Felix is coming to terms with being dumped by her girlfriend and being assaulted in LA, her mother sends her to live with her Aunt who is also a lesbian and who ran away from home in the mid 60's, so afraid to be who she really was with her family.
Into this equation you get to learn about the ghosts of the town Lilac Mines, in the late 80's. A girl of that name simply vanished, the town fell apart after her disappearance and many stories sprung up about her and what could have happened. Felix loses herself in the mystery, she finds her Aunt unresponsive so makes her own entertainment elsewhere.
As the book progresses the story of the aunt and the niece become ever more entwined.
I throughly enjoyed the book, I really got to know the characters and felt for them. Do we take for granted how easy it is to be a lesbian in this day and age and what all those before us did for the cause. The mystery is Lilac Mines kept me guessing as well.. there were so many layers to this story it kept me guessing until the end.
And as if that wasn't enough there are also a couple of mentions of my favourite band in there as well - 'The Beach Boys'.
Thanks very much Cheryl for a brilliant book! Cheryl will be our 'celeb of the month' next month on our LnL website http://www.lesbiansnorthlondon.co.uk/
September 2, 2020
Lilac Mines is a thoughtful book about community. The novel opens in LA in 2002, where we are introduced to twenty-something Felix, a lesbian hipster living the cool urban queer life. When her girlfriend trades in their non-monogamous relationship for monogamy with another woman, and Felix is gay bashed outside a West Hollywood bar, she decides to leave LA. She moves in with her aunt, Anna Lisa, a nurse who lives in a small town in central California, and gradually Felix’s wounds, both literal and metaphorical, heal. Anna Lisa is also a lesbian, and Felix judges her for everything from her fashion sense to her politics while simultaneously yearning to connect with her and to a larger lesbian history. Lilac Mines, the town in which Anna Lisa lives, is built over an abandoned silver mine and is named after a teenage girl, who mysteriously disappeared in 1899. Felix is convinced Lilac was gay and becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her. The book shifts point-of-view to Anna Lisa and her friends, travelling back in time to the late 1960s and early 70s when a small lesbian community in Lilac Mines was sustained by a gay bar with rigid butch-femme role playing, jobs at the local mill for the butches, and a lesbian feminist hippie commune in a vacant church. As the past, actual and imagined, is revealed, both Felix and Anna Lisa build a more connected and purposeful present. The quietly assured writing, the appealing and racially diverse characters, and sheer tenderness of the story make this one of my all-time favourite novels.
September 1, 2013
In this well-written book Cheryl Klein tells us the story of Felix, an out and trendy lesbian. After being attacked in a gay neighborhood in LA, Felix goes to spend some time with her lesbian aunt Anna Lisa (aka Al) in the small town of Lilac Mines. Klein's novel portrays lesbian life and relationships today, in post-modernist LA, and also in the late sixties (the butch/femme scene) and early seventies with the rise of the feminist movement. In between she also manages to propose the solution for the mystery of the disappearance in 1899 of Lilac Ambrose, the sixteen year old for whom the town is named. She makes us think about social pressure, choices, authenticity, and finding your own identity as a lesbian. She also shows that although things may seem different, stories and struggles repeat themselves along time. This book is not perfect. At the beginning of the sixties storyline the writing seemed a bit stereotyped as if a lot of info had been taken from a history book. Also, there were some options regarding the telling of the story, which is mostly from Felix and Anna POV, that could possibly be done differently. However, the book has compelling characters and an interesting plot.
May 17, 2012
cheryl klein writes in the acknowledgments that this is a novel about community, and the book does feel like this and has a lovely warmth about it. I really enjoyed it, it had great characters and i loved the alternate stories of 25 year old felix in 2002 and her aunt anna lisa in the 60s and 70s.
i liked the issues that were brought up - how felix was happy to be out (but then becomes fearful after being attacked) and is disappointed in her Aunt not being completely open about being gay. Although i am aware of how difficult it must have been to be gay in a small town (and everywhere else!) in the 60s and 70s, it kind of made me think about it again and in different ways.
oh, and there's also another story running alongside it about the town and a girl called lilac who went missing in the late nineteenth century. i liked that too (although maybe not the last chapter so much) and i liked the sense of place that you got from reading it. hurray!
(there's also mining and baking and local history and ghost towns and romance! so you know, you'll like it)
i liked the issues that were brought up - how felix was happy to be out (but then becomes fearful after being attacked) and is disappointed in her Aunt not being completely open about being gay. Although i am aware of how difficult it must have been to be gay in a small town (and everywhere else!) in the 60s and 70s, it kind of made me think about it again and in different ways.
oh, and there's also another story running alongside it about the town and a girl called lilac who went missing in the late nineteenth century. i liked that too (although maybe not the last chapter so much) and i liked the sense of place that you got from reading it. hurray!
(there's also mining and baking and local history and ghost towns and romance! so you know, you'll like it)
March 20, 2013
I wanted to like this book. I truly did. Unfortunately, I could not get invested in any of the characters- well, Meg was a little more interesting than the rest. The others trudge along and whine, face some small foe, then whine again. (And yes, I am a thrift store shopping, fringe of society dwelling, girlfriend having mother of 2) so I can relate to several of the issues faced. I just couldn't care about the characters. The only reason I stuck with it was to find out what happened to Lilac.
I will say the author does have a grasp of imagery. She finds a way to describe things rather poetically...but the fact that she reviewed her own book and gave it 5 stars just made sure I won't try to read anything else by her.
I will say the author does have a grasp of imagery. She finds a way to describe things rather poetically...but the fact that she reviewed her own book and gave it 5 stars just made sure I won't try to read anything else by her.
June 9, 2009
I wrote it, so instead of telling you why I PERSONALLY think it's so awesome, I'll let you know whom I would recommend this book to: queers; California history geeks; feminists; ghost hunters; Gen X- and Y-ers who feel like postmodernism has done them wrong; Baby Boomers who feel like Gen X- and Y-ers could cut the sass a little; people who bake their own muffins; people who like mules; InStyle Magazine addicts; thrift store junkies; nurses; and anyone who's survived a mountain lion attack.
February 7, 2010
Excited to read this - the first few pages I heard at the reading were great! It's part of my summer-reading stash for July vacation!
Merged review:
So far this is a completely engaging read - I can relate to the main character, Felix, and her friends (although they seem slightly hipper than me, so are most of my friends). I'm looking forward to kicking back with this and finishing it while on vacation!
Merged review:
So far this is a completely engaging read - I can relate to the main character, Felix, and her friends (although they seem slightly hipper than me, so are most of my friends). I'm looking forward to kicking back with this and finishing it while on vacation!
February 12, 2011
Very fun adventure with the central "mysteries" being centered around relationships, particularly lesbian ones. I wasn't a big fan of the language throughout, but I really enjoyed the story. Reminded me a bit of Laurie R. King's "A Grave Talent," which had a similar theme of mystery about relationships.
September 2, 2015
It was recommended to me by a publisher at a book festival. It was not really what I expected but/and I stuck with it and liked it much better towards the middle and end. I never realized there was a group of LBGT-feminists in the 1960'2 in little enclaves of the Sierras. The writing was good but not great.
Currently reading
August 8, 2010I have found this book to be a nice fast read. The story line starts off slow but has a small strange look into being gay back in the 60's and 70's.
May 24, 2014
I loved this book. The characters were interesting, the story was solid, and it was just enjoyable all the way through.
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