The Well Of Loneliness

Radclyffe Hall

A powerful novel of love between women, THE WELL OF LONELINESS brought about the most famous legal trial for obscenity in the history of British law. Banned on publication in 1928, it then went on to become a classic bestseller.

'The archetypal lesbian novel' - TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

'The bible of lesbianism' - THE TIMES

'One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature' - NEW STATESMAN


'What do I care for the world's opinion? What do I care for anything but you!'


Stephen Gordon (named by a father desperate for a son) is not like other girls: she hunts, she fences, she reads books, wears trousers and longs to cut her hair.

As she grows up amidst the stifling grandeur of Morton Hall, the locals begin to draw away from her, aware of some indefinable thing that sets her apart. And when Stephen Gordon reaches maturity, she falls passionately in love with another woman.

Introduced by Diana Souhami, author of the acclaimed biography The Trials of Radclyffe Hall