In Every Port – The first one by Karin Kallmaker

I recently re-read this first novel by Karin Kallmaker. First published in 1989 it bears the sign of the times. It’s probably one of the reasons I like this book well enough to read it more than once. In fact it was probably the 3rd or 4th time I read it.

In Every Port tells the story of Jessica, a management consultant for women, and Cat, a hotel executive who lives across from her apartment. Jessica travels around and in every city she has a lover. Just sex, no romance. Because Jessica is not a lesbian 😏. She is just fooling around until she is ready to settle down with a man 🤷‍♀️.

Well that bubble bursts and Jessica finally admits to herself that she is a lesbian. Suddenly the just sex is not enough and she falls in love with Cat with whom she has started a friendship. This is all set against the backdrop of San Francisco in the late seventies and the gay movement led by Harvey Milk.

So this is definitely a romance but it is set in a time and written at a time where it still wasn’t very common and acceptable to be gay. And we shouldn’t forget how it was to remind us how fortunate a lot of us are now.