The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

This early work by Radclyffe Hall was originally published in 1928 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Well of Loneliness' is a novel that follows an upper-class Englishwoman who falls in love with another woman while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I. Marguerite Radclyffe Hall was born on 12th August 1880, in Bournemouth, England. Hall's first novel The Unlit Lamp (1924) was a lengthy and grim tale that proved hard to sell. It was only published following the success of the much lighter social comedy The Forge (1924), which made the best-seller list of John O'London's Weekly. Hall is a key figure in lesbian literature for her novel The Well of Loneliness (1928). This is her only work with overt lesbian themes and tells the story of the life of a masculine lesbian named Stephen Gordon.

Passionately felt and courageous * Spectator *
A pioneering lesbian novel * Daily Telegraph *
Beautifully written and constructed, with delightful proseIt is the standard-bearer; the lesbian The Grapes of Wrath -- Lee Lynch

Radclyffe Hall, the pen name of Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall, was born in Bournemouth on 12 August 1880. She was educated at King’s College, London, and later undertook further studies in Germany. Hall was renowned for her open homosexuality, a subject dealt with in her best-known novel, The Well of Loneliness (1928), a semi-autobiographical work and the only one of her eight novels to deal with overt lesbian themes. Her open treatment of lesbianism in The Well of Loneliness occasioned a trial for obscenity; it was banned and an appeal refused, which resulted in all copies in Britain being destroyed. The United States allowed its publication after a long court battle. She also published several volumes of verse including Twixt Earth and Stars: Poems (1906) and Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems (1913). Adam’s Breed (1926), a sensitive novel about the life of a restaurant keeper won the Prix Femina and the 1927 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Hall died in 1943 at the age of 68 from cancer.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781784870324
ISBN 10	1784870323
Title	The Well of Loneliness
Author	Radclyffe Hall
Series	Vintage Classics Ser
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Vintage Publishing
Year published	2015-07-02
Number of pages	608
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.