Jo Sinclair’s Wasteland (1945) is a groundbreaking, award-winning debut novel that tackles big, messy questions of Jewish identity, family struggles, psychiatry, and sexuality in World War II-era America. But what really makes it extraordinary? It features the first major U.S. novel with a well-adjusted, happy lesbian character—an autobiographical stand-in for Sinclair herself.

We’ll dive into this fascinating, ahead-of-its-time novel together. Whether you read the whole book, just a few excerpts, or simply come curious, you’ll get to explore Sinclair’s work, its historical impact, and why it still resonates today.

Josh Lambert is the Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and English, and Director of the Jewish Studies Program, at Wellesley College. His most recent book is The Literary Mafia: Jews, Publishing, and Postwar American Literature.