Many Love: A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s)

Many Love is a memoir about author Sophie Lucido Johnson and her relationships, but it's also a road map for decentering our societal concepts about love as it relates to the nuclear family. Building on the queer theory that came before her, Johnson demonstrates how love doesn't have to be a box where a single romantic partner is the only person you can ever really love. You can love friends more than a sexual partner, you can give mutual support to whomever you want, and you can build a chosen family that suits you. For her, polyamory isn't about sleeping with a bunch of random strangers — it's about how we have many lovely people in our lives who lift us up in different ways (and vice versa), and that that's beautiful. Recommended By Cosima C., Powells.com

Sophie Lucido Johnson gets a lot of questions when she tells people that she’s polyamorous. Many Love is an intimate look at this often misunderstood practice: its history, its misconceptions, and Sophie’s personal transformation from serial monogamist to proud polyamorist.

After trying for years to emulate her boomer parents’ forty-year and still-going-strong marriage, Sophie realized that maybe the love she was looking for was down a road less traveled. In this bold, graphic memoir, she explores her sexuality, her values, and the versions of love our society accepts and practices. Along the way, she shares what it’s like to play on Tinder side-by-side with your boyfriend, encounter — and surmount — many types of jealousy, learn the power of female friendship, and other amazing things that happened when she stopped looking for “the one.”

In a lot of ways, Many Love is Sophie’s love letter to everyone she has ever cared for. Witty, insightful, and complete with illustrations, this debut provides a memorable glimpse into an unconventional life.

“Many Love may be about polyamory, but it's just like any touching coming of age story - just with a bit of a different inter-personal structure. Warm, revealing and honest, it's a welcoming read, no matter what structure for love you have in your life.” Jen A Miller, author of Running: A Love Story

“Sophie Lucido Johnson is funny, feminist, smart, and, annoyingly, a very talented illustrator to boot. Many Love is a compassionate and convincing love story, and a must-read for anyone who feels left out by our culture's one-size-fits-all, heterosexual, monogamous norms.” Katie Heaney, author of Never Have I Ever and Would You Rather?

“Johnson has created an unjaded portrait of “unconventional” love, and reading it feels like you’ve both been introduced to a new, exceedingly cool best friend and granted access to a kind of interpersonal, anthropological wisdom that will cause you to reevaluate every preconceived ideal you had about family and commitment. To call Many Love compulsively readable is a gross understatement. This book will split you wide open.” Kristen Radtke, author of Imagine Wanting Only This

“[A] refreshingly candid and provocative narrative… [T]he author adds a dash of humor and incisive observation to almost every page of her text with comic book-style drawings… Johnson's multipronged approach not only demystifies a much-maligned and misunderstood practice; it also makes for enjoyable, accessible reading. Illuminating and entertaining.” Kirkus Review

Sophie Lucido Johnson is a writer, illustrator, comedian, and the editor-in-chief of Neutrons Protons, an online literary magazine. She has been published in The New Yorker, Guernica, The Guardian, VICE, Catapult, DAME, McSweeney’s, Jezebel, The Hairpin, The Nation, and ROOKIE, among others. She has just completed an MFAW at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Many Love is her first book.

I have written a book called Many Love, which is very difficult for me to describe. You are supposed to have an elevator pitch for the book you have written, but I have struggled greatly with such a pitch. Here are the different ways I’ve described it to different people...

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