Who is Eva Palmer as noted in the book, After Sappho?

Midway through After Sappho, Eva Palmer performs the work of Sappho for a disapproving American audience. The narrator—gesturing towards Eva’s queerness—notes that Eva “had been practising Sappho for years” (86). As a young woman, Eva begins a romantic relationship with Natalie Barney. They take photographs of one another, naked in a woodland scene. Eva studies theater and Classical Greek culture, rapidly becoming a central part of the lesbian community in Paris. Eva grows enamored with Penelope Sikelianos; eventually, Eva instead marries Penelope’s brother, Angelos. In Greece, Eva wonders “why the great theatre of Delphi stood empty” (111). She worries that modern Greeks are entirely disconnected from their cultural heritage. In 1927, Eva organizes a revival of the ancient Delphi Festival.