Surplus by Sylvia Stevenson

Surplus

Sylvia Stevenson

Surplus (1924) is an early and significant work of lesbian fiction that predates better-known novels like Radclyffe Hall’s “Well of Loneliness.” The novel follows Sally Wraith, a young woman navigating life after serving as an ambulance driver during World War I. When Sally meets Averil, whom she considers her “dream girl,” she falls deeply in love and dreams of spending her life with her. Unlike many contemporaneous works, Surplus presents Sally’s love for another woman not as deviant or pathological, but as a genuine romantic attachment, albeit one that faces social obstacles. The novel poignantly explores themes of unrequited love—the universal struggle of falling for someone who cannot return one’s feelings—through a specifically lesbian perspective. With its sympathetic portrayal of same-sex desire during a period when such representations were rare, Surplus represents an important milestone in the history of LGBTQ+ literature, offering a more nuanced and less condemning view of lesbian relationships than many works of its era.

Click here for a list of Editions and Revisions

Check for it on:

• Amazon
• Goodreads
• Google Books

Details