San Francisco in 1940 is a haven for the unconventional. Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World's Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer "authentic" experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet. Six women find their lives as tangled with each other's as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where magic, science, and art intersect.
Lush and loving portrait of several sapphic women in the 1940s. The author did a lot of research on San Francisco, and occasionally the narrative sagged under the weight of all that historical detail. I wasn't completely sold on the relationship between two of the characters (their relationship is instantaneous and really intense, but the emotional resonance wasn't quite there). They move in together after 24 hours, and love each other after a week. I actually wanted to know more about the life of the third character, who we see surprisingly little of.
