I am a woman

About the book

Laura Landon arrives in New York needing work, a place to live, and distance from a painful family history. A secretarial job supplies one kind of stability; sharing an apartment with the warm, unpredictable Marcie introduces a less manageable hope. Laura tries to explain her attraction as ordinary friendship, but everyday intimacy makes that explanation increasingly difficult to sustain. Encounters with Jack and Beebo bring her into a gay social world that offers companionship without removing the risks of jealousy, secrecy, and rejection. Bannon follows the tension between making a workable outward life and acknowledging an inner one. The novel's city consists of offices, rented rooms, and meeting places where apparently casual conversations can determine whether Laura feels isolated or recognized.

• Sexual identity
• Independence and belonging
• Desire and self-recognition

Why read it

The practical details of work and shared housing ground Laura's emotional discoveries in the daily effort of starting again.

English Gold Medal text displaying the April 1959 second-printing statement