This is one of those books that I should have read thirty years ago as I suspect it would have had more impact then. The story is a domestic drama about a marriage falling apart and a repressed wife finding herself.
In the end the husband Paul is the ‘villain’, but there are moments when given his background you can have a bit of sympathy for him, as he can’t understand why he is losing his wife. However, as the story progresses his true sociopathic controlling nature emerges and he becomes the main ‘bad guy’.
The connection between Carolyn and Val is interesting, but apart from the sex, I didn’t think the author really developed their relationship and at the end of the book I was left feeling there should have been more.

I suppose if I’d read this before Curious Wine, I may feel differently. However, that’s not the case. I enjoyed the story, the chemistry, the beauty in that moment of exact rightness some of us experience when we reject the norm to instead delve into those terrifying, deep waters of the unknown........... but the husband? Oof. So much Paul Blake content. A truly wonderful job of turning him into a monster. I hated him. But I could have done without so much of his insight and so much about him.

Reading this book is like finding and old friend. Coming out in the late 1970's, early 1980's wasn't easy. Things were different back then and it was hard to find positive representations and happy endings for gals like us. The book's tone is very lesbian feminist (representative of the times, "the personal is political"), has some all-too-easy villains, and is a bit two dimensional in places. Still, there is more depth and nuance to the story than in many other books from the era. This book, and Curious Wine, were each important books in the lesbian literary canon. Thank you Katherine V. Forrest. This story was an oasis for a baby dyke back in 1984 who needed to hear it was all going to be okay, and it would be good, and beautiful, and right. Amen.

I enjoyed this very much. I can find something to enjoy in all old gay books, though.

This time it’s how much this feels like a direct homage, an update, to the lesbian pulps, and specifically Ann Bannon. It’s a satisfying diptych, to hold them side by side. What’s the same, in the way a very similar story is told, with 20 years of gay life in between? What’s different?

The perspective shifts between 3 characters, one of them a man you wish you didn’t have to spend so much time with, are the same. The progress of the lesbian relationship is actually slower in this one than in Odd Girl Out or Stranger in Lesbos, the two I’ve read that this remind me of most. Once the sex happens, it’s much more explicit and much less fucked up, and some of it very hot in my book, although the language is a bit dated at this point.

The marriage feels like a 1960s marriage, but the gay world is a lot less depressing to come out into. The main character, Carolyn, is as lightly characterized as Laura Landon, so unfortunately no change there. And marital rape as the climax of the plot is unfortunately preserved as well.

But all in all, a fitting homage, and I would imagine one that served much the same purpose for lesbians looking for representation and stories they could recognize.

Green a beautiful colour, offering pastoral peace

As always it started with a swimming pool! The story follows the lives of two women who find each other. One already married to a man pays a price for that 'mistake'. Then throwing of the shackles, life becomes bearable & full of compassion & love with the support of so many women. A story we could all tell but not as well as this...

Another book I got when it first came out and have read several times. It’s one of the classics.

Hehehehe I love women, this couple was so cuteeee - seeing things from the husband's POV was interesting too. It be like that - read it. I loved the book :)

Broke me

Loved it.this book tore me to pieces. I'm moving on to more by this author. Loved the women and the hope.

I bought this book almost 20 years ago, and I used to love it. Even though the situation between Carolyn, Val and Paul never happened to me, I could relate to the women and their coming-out process. But now that I've had a girlfriend who cheated on me, and I've experienced the utter devastation and heartbreak that goes along with it, my feelings about this book have completely changed. I have nothing but sympathy for Paul, and nothing but contempt for his wife Carolyn for cheating on him and rubbing it in his face, even before she and Val's relationship turned sexual. I have zero tolerance for infidelity, whether straight or gay. So many gays and lesbians make excuses for that kind of behavior because they're "following their heart" or "being true to themselves". Yeah well, get out of your existing relationship/marriage first and THEN you can follow your heart. I lost a huge amount of respect for Ms. Forrest, reading this book this time. Also, I'm so sick of how she portrays most of the men in her books as villains. Her hatred for men is so glaringly obvious, it's laughable. The way she wrote Paul's character is so unrealistic and so cartoonish, it makes me wonder if she actually knows any men in real life. The rape scene, while horrific, was also a little silly in a few places. Where Paul thought he would make her "feel him" inside her? Give me a break. That was just dumb.
Sorry, but Forrest is slipping from the top spot of my list of favorite lesbian authors.

For any young gays wanting an amazing breakthrough novel about a lesbian romance.. this is not your book.
This once “groundbreaking” novel is litterally a porno. Amongst the horrible writing and lack of proof reading, there are crude sex scenes and no real development of the actual lesbian relationship at hand.
If you like lesbian porn novels that read as though they are self published, this may be the one for you. If not I urge you to read another of the great number of amazing lgbt+ novels that illustrate actual love stories and not just horribly written sex.

An Emergence of Green is an excellent romance novel - well-written, moving, and with a compelling (if not entirely convincing) plot. Carolyn Blake, a young woman stifled by a possessive husband, strikes up an unlikely friendship with the artist Val Hunter. Val's bohemian ways give Carolyn the space she needs to develop a sense of self and question the structure of her marriage, Paul's controlling behaviour. Val and Carolyn are, of course, drawn to one another.

It's a moving story, especially with the theme of respect within a relationship. More than that, it's also a boldly political novel, offering a dramatised critique of the idea that a woman becomes a man's property upon marriage. The politics in no way detract from the story - in fact, Val's wry comments during the BBQ scene had me laughing out loud - but rather make it all the more interesting. This book is incredibly readable.

I would recommend An Emergence of Green to anyone interested in romance or queer fiction.

After reading Curious Wine, I knew immediately this writer will be one of my appreciated. Reading An Emergence Of Green is indeed slightly different as the writer indicated...bringing in the Husband's perspective highlights an often muted character perspective.
Ownership is a major obstacle in my opinion both in relationships and moreso in marriages. Unfortunately, some have to meander through various relationships and possibly marriages before identifying first themselves and who they are meant to be with. This book did a job on showing that perspective and in addition, show us the dangers inherent.