For forty years, Underwater has remained almost like its title – out of print and under the radar. Always intending to bring the title back to life, Joan Hawkins has now actualised a long-standing wish: the Second Edition of Underwater is here, just in time for its fortieth anniversary. Kate Stevens, a young woman once destined for partnership in a long-standing New York Law Firm, chose marriage to Harry instead, and is the mother of a baby girl, Cam. A bout with cancer changes Kate’s life, leaving her yearning for a less conventional future. A girl called Valery St. John exists within Kate, an alter-ego of verve and daring that has long yearned for adventure, lust and achievement – in male terms. It takes a chance encounter with a beautiful, charismatic artist named Margo to bring Valery, and the alternative lifestyle she represents, to the fore. Kate’s ensuing affair with the lesbian painter prompts a personal transformation, and proves a crucible for the relationship between herself and Harry. A stunning and highly charged novel, its depiction of a young woman at a crossroads in her life in a time of massive social and cultural change is both subtle and ground-breaking. Its themes of personal expansion, sexual exploration and feminism blend with a satirical take on the old order of the day, where the gray suits of the WASP power front are being challenged by student protests, racial integration and the emergence of women in the workplace.
Genre: Grier Rated
Subjects: Lesbian Sleaze
Publication History
| ISBN | 978-0399113697 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 1974 |
| Publication Date | 1974 |
| Publisher | Putnam |
| Format | Hardcover |
| No. of Pages | 256 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Not Rated |
| ISBN | 0425029557 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 1974 |
| Publication Date | 1974 |
| Publisher | Berkley Medallion |
| Format | Mass Market Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 217 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | D2955 |
| Rating | Not Rated |
| ISBN | 978-0399113697 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 1974 |
| Publication Date | 1974 |
| Publisher | Landon Books |
| Format | Hardcover |
| No. of Pages | 260 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Not Rated |
Comment
Underwater was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1974, with a Berkley Medallion paperback the same year, under the name Joan Winthrop. Its author, Joan Hawkins, a Manhattan psychotherapist, later brought it back under her own name in a fortieth-anniversary edition (Landon Books, 2014) and again in 2022 (451 Editions). Kate Stevens gave up a path to partnership in a New York law firm for marriage to Harry and a baby daughter, Cam. After a bout with cancer, an alter ego called Valery St. John, hungry for adventure and achievement, comes to the fore, and Kate's affair with Margo, a charismatic lesbian painter, transforms her and tests her marriage.
Barbara Grier rated it A, with two asterisks. Set against the upheavals of the late 1960s, from student protests to integration and women entering the workplace, it is a mainstream novel from a major publisher about a married woman's awakening to love between women.