A review by yeahdeadslow
The Scorpion by Anna Elisabet Weirauch

4.0

If I have done my html correctly, hopefully above you can see the cover of a pulp publishing of this novel. I had seen the picture on the cover a couple times, without any context, and I thought it was beautiful. When finally one day I saw it associated with a book, I knew I had to read it, so I was overjoyed to find it for cheap on kindle. (Though, of course, with a generic cover. Sigh.)

In this story, I was expecting... well, tragedy... and I got that, yes. But also I got to spend hours with the main character Metta, who I found to be an interesting and sympathetic character who I often identified with. (I've got a lot of pages bookmarked to write down quotes.) Though there were some familiar tropes you'd find in lesbian novels of this sort, they didn't feel overdone. That paired with fresh elements and incisive writing made for a compelling read.

From what I can gather, this novel was originally published in 1919. That predates even the mother of lesbian novels: The Well of Loneliness! I am SO curious to know more about The Scorpion and its author. It's been very hard to find information on either.

I just found out there is a sequel to this book called The Outcast, and I'm so afraid the story will end badly for Metta. I was surprised at the relative hopefulness of this book's ending... I shall keep my fingers crossed!