Paperback: 416pp
Published: Lightning (August 2025)
ISBN: 9781785634284
A comedy of manners set in a commune of lesbian witches
‘Funny and full of heart but also wise’ Polly Clark
‘A brilliant book. Everyone should read it’ Kathleen Stock
‘A captivating debut novel with a unique and feminist voice. We loved it’ The Write Club
‘Thankfully, author Linda Rosewood, has her tongue firmly in her cheek and is able to make humor of the milieu as well as understanding it deeply and respecting it profoundly.’ Bay Area Reporter
It’s the early 1980s, and a household of lesbian feminists establish a women-only commune in an ancient Californian redwood forest.
It seems a perfect place to practise the ritual magic that helps them function harmoniously as a group – even if they aren’t all true believers. By getting back to the land, they can also live more as nature intended and give the finger to the Patriarchy.
That doesn’t stop jealousies arising, as Wren, an artist, nurses an unrequited crush on Robin, the land’s extraordinarily generous owner. Further conflict brews as Gloria, the manipulative leader of the group, disagrees with Robin about her own rule: no men on the land.
Warm, funny and harking unashamedly back to a less toxic era, A Circle Outside is a seductive vision of a utopian dream, where the only real magic is self-transformation.
‘An authentic book that leads us back to a more innocent and idealistic era’ Gaia Media
‘A stylish and entertaining debut in which a coven of lesbians use every means at their disposal to preserve their women-only paradise. Funny, full of heart but also wise in its resistance to easy conclusions’ Polly Clark, author of Larchfield
‘Rosewood has written a wild, witchy and whimsical book with engrossing and complex characters. This novel is nearly impossible to put down’ Irene Reti, author of Out in the Redwoods
‘With enthusiasm, good humour and fellowship, the women of A Circle Outside break new ground. The fresh growth on this farm is joyfully rampant, in so many ways’ Roger Swain, presenter of The Victory Garden
‘Witches, lesbians, psychedelic trips and political activism set among the redwood groves of 1980s California is a bubbling cauldron of interpersonal strife, love affairs and feminism—all dished up with a side order of wisdom and humor. A Circle Outside is a cracking read which is sure to appeal to anyone who ever had a misspent youth or an ideal or two.’ Sally North, Holythorn Press
Order at your favorite bookstore
Ask for A Circle Outside at your favorite bookstore. They are unlikely to shelve it, but can order it for you. Or Bookshop.org.
In the UK and Europe, buy A Circle Outside directly from the publisher, Eye and Lightening.
If you have a bookstore in the US, order it from IPG. If you have a book store in the UK/EU/Aus/NZ, order it from Booksource. ISBN 9781785634284.
Yes, it is on Amazon, please avoid buying it from them if you can.
Media
Interview: Good Times Santa Cruz.
The primary setting of “A Circle Outside” is at the end of Bonny Doon Road, which allowed Rosewood to write extensively about the redwood forests...“I really tried my best to describe what it’s like to lie on your back in the middle of a redwood circle and look up and have a significant conversation with a friend.
“Feminism has a reputation for being dour,” Rosewood says, and she wanted to undermine that perception. With the fractured wisdom of the present, it would have been tempting to parody the ’80s, but Rosewood’s satirical moments are loving rather than dismissive. She says she stripped the sarcasm from an early draft of the book and at the same time tried “to leave a little bit on every page that was delightful.”
Interview: Santa Cruz Sentinel. “Author Linda Rosewood sets first novel, ‘A Circle Outside,’ in Santa Cruz” by Nick Sestanovich. (Please subscribe to the Sentinel, but if you can’t, try this link at archive.is.
Rosewood said the book stemmed from an interest in the concept of immortality.
“I have always wanted to think about what it would be like to be immortal so that you could figure out everything that happened in history,” she said. “I don’t believe in past lives myself, but I thought it would be interesting to have an immortal person who could remember all of her past lives, and what would she make of the 1980s in America?”
The Bay Area Reporter reviewed A Circle Outside, saying “A Circle Outside is an entertaining as well as educational read, easy to read and delightful. It concerns a more innocent time of the 1980s and in many ways is a sort of time capsule of that period in women’s social history. Remarkably, many of the issues dissected in the novel are extremely relevant today, particularly the discussions around monogamy and polyamory. Sisters were doing it for themselves!”
Vallejo Times Herald: “Arts-Entertainment Source: Alibi bookstore welcomes author Linda Rosewood”
“What is the most fun that you’re gonna have writing this book that you haven’t written yet?” “Think about a specific scene that you look forward to writing, and write that,” Rosewood said. She hopes that what readers take away from the book is realizing that “the thing that you hate about yourself is probably your greatest strength.”
Interview: The Lesbian Project Podcast
We got into the salacious stuff first, and then into utopias, feminism, and lesbian essentialism. We discussed an article about Queers and guns, (we are against it) and then line dancing, which morphed into my Minecraft evangelism.
Review: Gaia Media. Gaia Good News is a free non-profit newsletter about “communication information that contributes to a holistic understanding of nature and human existence” and also all the news of the current state of psychedelic science, art, and politics.
“Linda Rosewood’s droll but affectionate debut is about a vanished era, set in the Santa Cruz mountains square in the middle of the 1980s, not far from UCSC where she attended school. … Rosewood’s attitude toward these young people is amused and dry, and never becomes contemptuous or overglamorizing. Her theme sounds woo-rich, but it has a point.” Richard von Busack (Film and Culture Critic)
Interview: Pride Perspectives, KSQD.
Coleen Douglas and I in conversation with Cece Pinero on KSQD promoting our show “Wonder and Awe in the Redwoods.” I tell the story of my first lesbian experience in Santa Cruz, where to find the lesbians in Ireland, and all three of us talk about how much we love redwoods. Coleen sings a song, and I read a scene from A Circle Outside. (If you don’t like this link, search for it in your favorite podcast app.)
Interview: Radio Europe
Me, pitching A Circle Outside for 60 seconds
Events
I was in California for most of March 2026.
March 8 interview on KSQD Pride Perspectives (public radio). Apple podcast link. Search for it in your podcast app if those don’t work.
March 14 Dianic Wicca in Literature and Life, Berkeley Alembic, 3 pm
March 22 “Wonder and Awe in the Redwoods.” This is the Santa Cruz launch of A Circle Outside, an event with my friends Irene Reti and Coleen Douglas. 239 High St, Santa Cruz 2-4pm.
Here’s a short impressionistic video. A longer one will arrive shortly.
March 24 Fabuloso Bookstore, San Francisco
March 28 Felton Public Library. 3:00pm - 4:30pm, 6121 Gushee St
(I forgot to take pictures. That’s why I need to remember to bring someone with me.)
About a dozen of us sat outside on the patio at the beautiful Felton Library. I read some poems and a scene that takes place in a redwood circle. I was able to gesture to the redwoods growing just a few yards away from us.
April 4 Alibi Bookshop, Vallejo
With Alibi Books owner Karen Finley.
With April Whitney, best publicist in the world.
The power was out, but it didn’t matter a bit.
I highly recommend 1) writing a novel 2) selling it to a publisher 3) hiring a publicist 4) going on a book tour reading passages from your book out loud to strangers and talking to them about lesbians, feminism, paganism, utopias, and psychedelics. Can’t wait to do it again.
So exciting! I'll pop over to the Felton Library.
I recommend A Circle Outside as immensely readable with realistic natural dialogue, an entertaining story, interesting situation & relatable characters.
Jenny G