In At The Deep End: The lesbian literature we didn't know we needed

Kate Davies' In At The Deep End is the most unsexy book about sex I have ever read. Which also made it clutch-your-belly hilarious, frivolously filthy, and tinged with sadness. Her debut novel follows Julia - a lady looking for love in her mid 20s, after not having sex in three years. When she does eventually become so frustrated by the noises of her best mate having sex with her long-term partner in the flat they share, she decides it's her turn to get back in the dating (or sex) game.

Problem is, her first sexual encounter after her *dry spell* results in painfully embarrassing sex where a one-night-stand accuses her of breaking his penis. Safe to say, it wasn't what she imagined.

But then Julia starts to notice the sideways glances from women. The sexually confident lesbian who eyes her up at a house party and the feelings she never knew existed inside her.

I was under the impression the book would be about sexual exploration or sexual fluidity many millennial women experience in their 20s. I was wrong - gladly, though. It wasn't really about a 'phase' or 'exploring women' - it was about Julia's full-blown, hetero to homo, lesbian awakening. Kate Davies, who has a wife herself, captured the confusion any newly lesbian would feel after giving up on men and swinging for other team, as the phrase goes.

Julia certainly looked like a fish out of water as she navigated her way through her new lesbian life, which was worlds away from her regular, rather vanilla world. From queer slang to polyamory, Julia was very much in at the deep end.

Following her self-discovery was touching and quite cringe-worthy at times, but nonetheless, I rooted for her all the way. There were major highs and lows among the brutally honest take on coming out as gay in the modern world.

If you want some lesbian lit that isn't written for the purpose of the male gaze or to fetishize gay women, this is the read for you.

In At The Deep End can be purchased on Amazon, here.