the latecomer: 50th anniversary edition

The Latecomer by Sarah Aldridge was the first book published by the legendary Naiad Press and one of the first known novels to grant a happy ending to its lesbian main characters.

Coming home from a summer spent in research in Europe, Philippa unexpectedly shares her stateroom with Kay, a stranger. Philippa, nearing forty, reserved, inexperienced in close human relationships, and Kay, eight years younger, lively, gregarious, agonizing over a frustrated love affair, spend five days during their stormy Atlantic crossing learning the key to each other’s natures.

Philippa and Kay believe their arrival in New York harbor will end their brief friendship, but circumstance intervenes. They meet again in Washington, D.C., where Kay’s lover’s career has led to possible catastrophe for all involved. It is Philippa who must act as a mediator for Kay--hiding her growing feelings to protect Kay’s best interests.

The Latecomer invites you into the world of Philippa and Kay, strangers who meet aboard a cruise ship and, despite very different lives and aspirations, find a surprising bond. Through political and romantic intrigue, they uncover the truth about themselves.

Sarah Aldridge, the nom de plume of Anne Nelson Yarborough De Armond (Anyda) Marchant, was born in Rio de Janeiro and moved with her family to Washington, DC at six. She earned an undergraduate degree, followed in 1933 by her law degree from George Washington University, which was known as the National University of Washington, DC. As a law student, she served as assistant to women’s rights pioneer Alice Paul, who was then doing research for what would become the Equal Rights Amendment. She was admitted to the bar in Virginia and Washington, DC, and before the US Court of Claims and the US Supreme Court.

Her first published work was a short story titled ＂Friends--it was published by The Ladder, the periodical released by the Daughters of Bilitis. She later finished her debut novel and she and her life partner Muriel Crawford founded the Naiad Press as a way to publish The Latecomer.

In 1974 Naiad Press was formally incorporated when Marchant and Crawford were joined by Barbara Grier and Donna McBride and The Latecomer was officially released. Marchant served as Naiad president from its inception until the mid-1990s.

In 1995 Marchant and Crawford withdrew from Naiad after a publishing dispute and began their own publishing company, A&M Books in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Writer, comedienne, and LGBT+ rights activist, Fay Jacobs took over A&M Books in 2006. In 2015, A&M Books merged with Bywater Books of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Anyda Marchant died in 2006 at the age of 94. Muriel Crawford, her partner for 57 years, passed away only five months later. She was 92.

In 2007, Sarah Aldridge was posthumously awarded the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Trailblazer Award for her lifetime contribution to the advancement of lesbian literature.