The novel was a source of inspiration for Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman, who provides the introduction for the recent Penguin reprinting and calls the novel ‘ a tapestry of tortured, introspective moments’.

Olivia awakens in desire for Mlle Julie, who co-founded the school with Mlle Cara and guides her in the ways of arts and culture but possible former romances create an atmosphere of jealousy and shame for Olivia. Told from the perspective of old age reflecting back on when ‘ I was innocent,' at the age of 16, ‘ with the innocence of ignorance,’ his exquisitely written little gem manages to completely absorb the reader through the tumultuous rapture of first love as she is plunged into the social politics and scandals of her French boarding school. Olivia, Dorothy Strachey’s only novel, is not only an achievement of lesbian fiction in the late 1940’s but of literary fiction in general. The volatile landscapes of sexual awakenings are often the grounds for great novels with emotions flowing like rivers for hearts to break upon the rocks. ‘ I must feed on beauty and rapture in order to grow strong.’ “Dorothy Strachey (1865-1960) was the sister of the novelist Lytton Strachey and a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group…….Olivia, originally published under a pseudonym, is her only novel.”. In 1999, Olivia was included on the Publishing Triangle’s widely publicized list of the 100 Best Gay and Lesbian Novels of the 20th Century. Colette wrote the screenplay for the 1951 film adaptation of the novel. Olivia was dedicated to the memory of Strachey’s friend Virginia Woolf and published to acclaim in 1949. Marie Souvestre, whose influence lived on through former students like Natalie Barney and Eleanor Roosevelt. “Although not strictly autobiographical, Olivia draws on the author’s experiences at finishing schools run by the charismatic Mlle. Julie and the other head of the school, Mlle. Julie, and through this screen of love observes the tense romance between Mlle. The innocent but watchful Olivia develops an infatuation for her headmistress, Mlle.

Dorothy Strachey’s classic Olivia captures the awakening passions of an English adolescent sent away for a year to a small finishing school outside Paris. “Considered one of the most subtle and beautifully written lesbian novels of the century, this 1949 classic returns to print in a Cleis Press edition.

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