Seeking Virginia

The woman in this story was born at a time when she was firmly told she was a girl and she would grow up to have relationships with boys. She was given a map: To be normal, she was supposed to follow the map. Through the years she found males she liked but there were always females she liked better She thought she was weird – the only woman who liked women that way. We hear this story more often these days; women who come out of the closet as lesbians later and later in their lives. The author was so interested in this issue that she researched the lives of 25 women and wrote a book about their experiences (Lesbian Epiphanies: Women Coming Out in Later Life. Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, New York. (1999). This current book, this memoir, tells the story of one woman, following her from childhood to coming out, tracing her relationships that were satisfying and not. This memoir is a tender, sad, joyous, intense story of a woman who finds her real self, her genuine sexual self, after years of seeking.