Wild Shrew Literary Review (WSLR) is Sinister Wisdom’s online book review project. To complement the longer list of suggested books available for review, each month we feature a selection of books being released that month. If you would like to write a review, or if you would like to be added to the WSLR email list to receive the monthly complete book list with book descriptions, please email the WSLR editor, Chloe Berger, at chloe at sinisterwisdom dot org.


June 2026 Featured Books:
1. The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford
2. The Seduction by Sara Torres, translated by Mara Faye Letham
3. Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England
4. Bone Horn by Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain
5. Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst
6. Vamoose: Stories by Kathy Anderson
7. All This Want (and I Can’t Get None) by T Clark
8. Phoning Faust by Sophie Mutiara Nova
9. Dreams in Which I’m Almost Human by Hannah Soyer
10. A Lesbian Queer Utopia?!: An Empirical Research on the Island of Lesvos by M.A. Seewald


Book descriptions:

The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford: Meet Rainbow Rosenbloom, a Jewish, lesbian taxi driver and film reviewer in London. Her life is upended when she is unexpectedly possessed by the dybbuk Kokos, a mischievous Jewish demon. After 200 years of exile, Kokos returns to a world utterly transformed and ready to make trouble as a dybbuk must.

Confronted with late-stage capitalism, corporate culture, and computers, Kokos struggles to haunt with her old-world flair. As Kokos and Rainbow navigate this unfamiliar landscape together, an unlikely partnership forms: Kokos learns to survive in the modern age, and Rainbow comes to value her sarcastic, supernatural sidekick.

Originally published in 1993, The Dyke & the Dybbuk remains strikingly relevant. Witty, satirical, and full of heart, The Dyke & the Dybbuk is a sharp comedy about religion, family, queer identity, and the absurdities of modern life. The Dyke & the Dybbuk will leave you laughing and thinking.

The Seduction by Sara Torres, translated by Mara Faye Letham: Unspoken tensions simmer between two women under the heat of a Catalan summer in this internationally bestselling, erotic, and quietly radical portrait of queer desire.

In a sun-drenched house on the Catalan coast, a young, queer photographer arrives to capture the portrait of a celebrated writer. But what begins as a professional collaboration slowly unravels into something more intimate and unsettling—a charged exchange of glances, silence, and shifting emotional boundaries.

The photographer, unnamed and quietly observant, is drawn to the writer’s enigmatic presence, her self-possession, her power. Over shared meals and quiet routines, the difficulty of understanding the desire of the other begins to obsess the narrator. As the summer heat thickens, so too does the unspoken tension between them, heightening the photographer’s insecurities and her perception of her own flaws. When a third woman arrives, an old friend with blurred boundaries, the fragile connection begins to unravel. Is this seduction, or projection? Intimacy, or illusion?

Told through lyrical, introspective prose, The Seduction is a poetic, slow-burn exploration of the complexities of seduction between women, intimacy, queer longing, and the quiet ache of unfulfilled connections.

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England: Stardew Valley meets Studio Ghibli in a charming cozy fantasy about healing, redemption, and the subtle magic of simple living. Perfect for fans of Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea and The Spellshop. Welcome home, weary traveler.

When Oaklin Nettlewood accidentally joined an evil world-ending cult, mind control magic forced them to do unspeakable things. Years later, the realm’s heroes have finally saved the day, defeated the villain, and shattered the last remnants of the spell . . . leaving destruction in their wake. And so, with a spell-damaged memory and whole bushel of trauma, Oaklin escapes to a small farm on the edge of Mossley’s Rest and swears an oath: After all the things they were forced to do with their magic, they will never use it again. Ever.

The no-nonsense ghost granny who lives in Oaklin’s house has other ideas. As she coaxes Oaklin out of their shell and back into the world, they find companionship (a grumpy horse and a very good dog), friendship (a local bard and magical baker who should just kiss already), and tentative romance (a paladin-librarian who makes Oaklin’s heart come alive for the first time in ages.) Magic even seems possible again―though strictly for foraging magical mushrooms and protecting the farm from bugs.

Healing comes in gentle waves, and Oaklin doesn’t have to do it alone. So what does it mean when an inquisitor comes to town to hunt former cultists just as Oaklin begins to think that maybe, just maybe, they deserve a happy ending after all?

Bone Horn by Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain: A newly registered private investigator attempts to track down Alice B. Toklas’s reputed horn in this smart, hilarious, sexy, and unexpectedly poignant detective novel

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas are the most famous married couple of Modernism, icons of literary queer history. But what if Alice had a secret? What if, underneath her thickly cultivated hair and low-brimmed hats, there was something sinister growing? What if, as Picasso claimed, Alice B. Toklas really did have a horn?

This is what the mysterious voice on the phone is asking. And our narrator, a newly registered private investigator, is in no position to hang up—she recently walked away from an exploitative job in academia, is bereaved following the sudden death of her partner, and has a kid to support. The case sounds ridiculous, but she needs the money. Okay, she tells the voice. I’ll find the horn. The job takes her from London to Paris to San Francisco, from a Hemingway’s kitchen table to a Beat-inspired hotel run by an investment bank. Just when she thinks the case is dead, that no horn exists, she finds herself knee-deep in trouble with someone hot on her heels . . .

At once a reimagining of the lone-wolf detective and a hilarious takedown of self-important scholarship, Bone Horn is a dexterous investigation of queerness, unbearable grief, and who has the right—and means—to rewrite history.

Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst: Five friends from university; seven summer days in a cabin in rural Denmark. A chance to swim, sunbathe, flirt, read and mess around like in the old days.

At least that’s what Sylvia had hoped. But when her friends arrive with real jobs, kids and partners, Sylvia is left wondering what happened to the radical ways of living they embraced at university. Worse, Esben and Karen announce their plan to get married at the end of the week, striking a blow to Sylvia’s simmering, decades-long crush on Esben – a crush that her monogamous girlfriend Charlie would definitely not approve of.

Whilst the group swim, sunbathe, cook and flirt their way to midsummer night, desire and anxiety swirl in equal measure. As the wedding day approaches, will they achieve their arcadian dreams or will everything come tumbling down?

Vamoose: Stories by Kathy Anderson: Two lesbian librarians launch a life-changing friendship in the back of a pickup truck at Texas Gay Pride in 1989. The Queen of the Stilt Walkers fights off her larcenous brother to keep her home. A lesbian former foster child endures Kundalini yoga class in her quest for love. A murderous nun takes revenge on her mother for forcing her into the convent. Dogs keep biting a new lesbian couple and they don't know why. Sisters fight off an invasion of mice in the room where their mother is dying.

Filled with crackling humor and surprising loves, Vamoose is a propulsive collection of fifteen stories of women leading lives of self-determination, small triumphs, and subversive pleasures.

All This Want (and I Can’t Get None) by T Clark: A piercing short story collection that explores the feverish hunger and dizzying pleasure of girlhood and queer coming-of-age in a small town, from an acclaimed emerging writer

“An ode to Black girlhood in all its forms, each story its own messy, hilarious, profound illustration of desire, friendship, the masks we put on, and the ways we learn to love. T Clark has written a short story collection for the ages.”—Leila Mottley, author of The Girls Who Grew Big

Set mostly in and around a small working-class neighborhood just outside of New York City, Clark’s stories explore the lives of young Black girls, women, and nonbinary characters, slicing through the filmy veil between adolescence and adulthood, between who they’ve been and who they might become.

D’asia’s friendship with a school security guard is teetering close to inappropriate. Chrissy is looking to play roulette on a trip with her boyfriend but ends up in a hotel room with two strangers. Juju’s mother dresses her up for a meeting with a local music producer. A little sister cringes as her friend tries to hook up with her older brother. A fight breaks out at a party and the video goes viral. A woman can’t stop walking by her ex’s window, hoping to catch a glimpse of all she lost.

With sharp sentences and great affection, Clark excavates the push and pull of desire and power running beneath tender and bare moments.

Phoning Faust by Sophie Mutiara Nova: Queer mixed Indonesian college student Dian Faust attempts to call the suicide hotline only to dial the wrong number, her finger slipping and typing in six three times (the mark of the Devil). The mysterious voice on the other end of the line is revealed to be a charming scam caller named Memphis with a penchant for chattiness, trapped in a dingy bus stop bathroom, wanting to learn a concerning amount about the lonely Dian’s life.

But this scam caller is more than just a Mr. Robot hacker wannabe—a sinister presence lurks in the pixels on Dian’s laptop screen in the shadows of her apartment. The Devil themself has come to collect Dian’s soul, and “Memphis” is actually Mephistopheles—Hell’s foremost golden-tongued agent and notorious liar.
In this loose retelling of Goethe’s Faust, will Dian save her soul before time runs out—or will she fall prey to the renowned storytelling deception of the infamous Mephistopheles?

Dreams in Which I’m Almost Human by Hannah Soyer: At eight years old, Hannah Soyer had no choice but to undergo an intensive spinal fusion surgery, in order to keep her lungs from eventually collapsing. Fourteen years later, she chose another treatment for her neuromuscular condition: regular drug injections into her spinal fluid. But what does “choice” really mean, and how much weight do our choices hold?

In taut, lyrical chapters, Dreams in Which I’m Almost Human confronts and communes with bodily autonomy, medical and sexual consent, traveling abroad in a wheelchair, caregiving and caretaking, appreciating the natural world, family history, bedtime stories, fantastical creatures, Irish poetry, and the limits and wonders of language and love. A bold collection of genre-bending essays, this memoir is an investigation into what we (and our words) are capable of, as we yearn to make sense of our relationships to ourselves, each other, and the worlds we inhabit.

A Lesbian Queer Utopia?!: An Empirical Research on the Island of Lesvos by M.A. Seewald: At a time of global environmental crises, authoritarian backlash, and deepening social inequalities, the question of how more just futures can be imagined—and practiced—has become even more urgent. M.A. Seewald explores how real spaces of possibility emerge in a lesbian-queer community on the Greek island of Lesvos, how these spaces sustain hope without idealization, and why they remain fragile. Grounding utopia in power, space, and collective life, this original combination of sociological analysis, queer-feminist theory, and ethnographic perspectives sheds new light on the possibilities of feminist futures and the transformation of patriarchal societies. In short, what can the world learn from lesbian-queer utopias?