Sister Gin by June Arnold

Aging, lesbian consciousness, the difficulty of escaping from alcoholism - these are the themes of June Arnold's extraordinary novel, first published in 1975. The novel stands squarely in the southern literary tradition, depicting with memorable hilarity a group of elderly female vigilantes who take local rape deterrence into their own hands. Critics and fellow writers have lauded it as a classic of experimental fiction. It is also a unique exploration of menopause as rebirth.