First Lady Laura Bush is all for kids frequenting libraries and reading lots, but one book they probably won’t find there is Sisters, the 1981 Old West novel penned by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Penguin Books was scheduled to republish the novel in paperback next week, and Publishers Weekly, touting the event, wrote that the book contains "lots of turgid prose, heaving bosoms, female characters who are proto-feminists and practice safe sex with multiple partners — and a juicy lesbian subplot."
Translation: Sisters features lots of condom use (anachronistic but written about favorably), plenty of prostitution (not bashed) — and a hot ‘n’ heavy lesbian love subplot.
An article by Barbara Shapiro on the Website GayWired.com quotes one passage from the book:
"Let us go away together, away from the anger and imperatives of men. There will be only the two of us, and we shall linger through long afternoons of sweet retirement. In the evenings I shall read to you while you work your cross-stitch in the firelight. And then we shall go to bed, our bed, my dearest girl."
Sounds great, eh? After all, the Cheneys have a lesbian daughter, Mary, who’s running her dad’s reelection campaign — and studiously not commenting on her dad’s flip-flop on the gay marriage issue. Back in 2000, he thought the question ought to be left to the states to decide; now he’s on board as supporting President Bush’s campaign, which according to today’s Washington Post is sitting dormant in Congress, for an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.
"We felt interest was growing because it was an election year and we decided it could be a timely book," said Penguin's Liz Perl.
Who knows? Maybe Sisters was Lynne’s attempt to be supportive of and get closer to her gay offspring... or maybe it’s something else that we won’t speculate about here. (After all, Lynne was, for several years, head of the government agency National Endowment for the Humanities way back when... and you know what libertines those humanities people are!)
In any case, those wishing to read the novel will have to haunt the used book stores: Penguin, apparently acting on a request from Lynne Cheney’s attorney Robert Barnett, has decided not to reissue the novel.
Concludes Shapiro, “By exerting pressure on Penguin not to re-release Lynne Cheney's book, the campaign is hoping to avoid any controversy or conflict with the extreme right in the GOP.”
Talk about your understatement!
