My Name Is Sappho

The passionate life and loves of Sappho, poet of Lesbos...

The turbulent, colorful society of Greece in the 6th century B.C. is the setting for this panoramic portrait of a great poet, lover, teacher and, above all, woman — Sappho of Lesbos. The gentle security of her childhood having been shattered by the accession of the Tyrants, Sappho is sent into exile for political dissidence, and from there begins the long struggle to regain her birthright – culminating in her return to Lesbos, hailed as the greatest poet of her age.

Here Sappho is no languishing poetess: she is a vain, lively witch with snapping black eyes, a fiery temper, beguiling charm---and genius.
Sappho herself tells the first part, her girlhood at Mitylene on the island of Lesbos, he swift emergence as a singer, musician and performer, her girl companions, and her dangerous involvement in the assassination and overthrow of a tyrant---her initiation into active feminism.
Next narrator is Alkaios, her fellow poet---handsome, reckless, cynical and witty---who boasted of running from the battlefield, but who rushed headlong into conspiracy and revolt. The shock and bloody uselessness of war is shown, along with the turmoil it leaves in its wake. Alkaios tells of his life under dictatorship and of his exile to Pyrrha along with Sappho and others. He tells also of his deep attraction for the young Sappho and of their swift bacchanalian affair of passion.
After the years of exile and travel, tempest and shipwreck, romance and tragic marriage, Sappho tells of he pardon and return---and her establishment of a school for women poets. Martha Rofheart handles with delicate sensitivity Sappho's tender involvement with the young girl Atthis.
The final segment, by Sappho's sister-in-law, Doricha, stands as an eloquent plea for the rights of women in a male oriented world. Doricha's gentle but factual comments provide a full, comprehensive view of Sappho's personality and breathtaking genius.
The pages of My Name Is Sappho are crowded with colorful historical figures, each bursting with vitality. From Aesop to Thales, a young and pagan world springs to life in this story, swift-paced and suspenseful, of a complex, enchanting woman---Sappho.

Sappho’s poetry shines out of the darkness of time to show a life filled with passion, danger, and magnificent, vigorous characters. Told through the words of Sappho herself, and those of her friends and lovers, this is a lyrical, engrossing novel, as full of color and invention as the world it brings to life.

"My Name is Sappho is an engaging episodic chronicle of the poet's life... Martha Rofheart has a cheerfully inventive approach that livens up the archaic world." ~ New York Times Book Review