"A 7-year-old tomboy rebels against both gender stereotypes and her controlling mother in Alden's epistolary novel...[When I First Knew] is a mother-daughter novel in every way...Alden has told a convincing, true-to-life story that is sometimes painful and more often inspiring. An affecting novel about a determined girl with guts."
---Kirkus Reviews

About the author:

Joan Alden, living in Sarasota, Florida, is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in New York. Recognized for her universal themes that normalize lesbianism, Alden didn’t begin writing until she was 34 years old, working backstage at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. Two years later, she published her first novel, Mrs. Cooper’s Boardinghouse with McGraw-Hill and The San Francisco Book Company. In 1989 Firebrand Books published Alden’s second novel, Letting in the Night, which was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Fiction. Three years later, Alyson Publications commissioned Alden and her partner, photographer Catherine Hopkins, to write A Boy's Best Friend about a boy with two mommies. It was selected for The Rainbow Curriculum of New York State that year—1992. The following year, 1993, Firebrand published Alden’s third novel, Before Our Eyes. When I First Knew is her fourth novel. Alden has also completed a second memoir, Her Widow, which will be published next year, and is currently working on a play.