18 Classics of LGBTQ Literature

Patience and Sarah book cover (Image via Arsenal Pulp Press)

1. Patience and Sarah

Patience and Sarah is partially based on the real life story of Mary Ann Willson, a painter in early 19th century New York. Together with her “companion”, Miss Brundage, Willson was a “farmerette” who worked to create an independent life for herself and her partner. Their relationship was typical of what came to be called a “Boston marriage”, in which two women lived together and supported each other without the participation of a husband.

At this point in history, women often developed strong, affectionate friendships with one another. A Boston marriage was doubtless one way for two women to continue a romantic relationship without rousing too much suspicion in an otherwise homophobic society.

In the novel, Patience is an upper-class woman who lives with her brother and his family. Though she lives a constrained life, Patience defies her circumstances by befriending the outcast, Sarah. Her new companion is a controversial figure in their community – she wears pants and works like a man. She is also lower class, and so the budding friendship is looked down upon by both Patience and Sarah’s families.

Though the pair first admits their love for one another while planning an escape to the American West, things do not go quite so easily. However, the novel ends on a positive note. Both Patience and Sarah escape their circumstances and establish a peaceful life for themselves in rural New York.