The Well of Loneliness (Virago modern classics) (Paperback)

However, I do not agree with the claim on the front of the cover describing it as "The Bible of Lesbianism" because in all honesty it is not. Radclyffe Hall may have herself been a lesbian, but in some ways this novel skirts over the issue and almost gives the impression that homosexuality is a negative thing. Obviously at the time that the novel is set in, she has to conform to certain social regulations, but referring to lesbians as "inverts" is not a particularly positive description in my eyes. Also trying to disguise the gender of the protagonist to a certain degree by calling her "Stephen" seems to also be an attempt to distract the reader from the issue of homosexuality that is clearly being conveyed.

However, this is beautifully written, it is a haunting piece of literature, that once read will never be forgotten. Hall may have been ahead of her time when the novel was first released, but she is now remembered as a classic and wonderful novelist whose words echo deeply within the heart of her readers.

This will reduce you to tears, I have never been so emotionally drained after finishing a book, but I truthfully believe that regardless of your view on sexuality, this is a love story, showing that love will force you to do anything to protect the one you truely care about and adore.

Exceptional.

Admittedly, the book is very much a product of its time. Sexual orientation was little understood, gender dysphoria even less so, and Hall appears to have got muddled up between the two. There is a mild stab at scientific explanation (Stephen's parents long for a boy, give her a boy's name, treat her as a boy to a certain extent - and surprise surprise, she grows up to like girls and dress as a man), and a very clear line drawn between "inverts" and "normals" that will make anyone grit their teeth long before they come to the depressing way in which Stephen "heroically" solves her final dilemma. The depiction of the relatively "normal" women Stephen loves as properly girly creatures, who are swayed by the perils of Sapphic passion but are still Real Women underneath, contains some pretty unpleasant stereotypes about bisexuals and "femme" women, and the characterisation throughout neither arouses sympathy in the reader nor particularly convinces.

Despite the obscenity trial, there is nothing scandalous in this book beyond the idea that a woman could love women: the dirtiest it gets is the all-concealing line, "...And that night they were not divided." (Sorry if that's a spoiler, but as a friend of mine said, "You mean I've read hundreds of pages about her miserable childhood for *that*?")

If you want lesbian sex, there are plenty of writers offering that sort of thing these days, and some of them even write about it well (Emma Donoghue, for instance, who is, incidentally, a vivid, moving and very funny writer). If you're after lesbian literature of that period, go to Virginia Woolf and co. (there are also some excellent anthologies, such as the "Penguin Book of Lesbian Short Stories" and "Chloe Plus Olivia", that take a literary-historical perspective). If you simply want a well-written book about love between women, again there is far better on offer: the previous two writers and also the likes of Jane Rule and Alice Walker. And if you're interested in transsexuality and the boundaries between genders (not to mention the people who fall in the middle), I can recommend Anna Livia's "Bruised Fruit" and Rose Tremain's "Sacred Country". Spare yourself this.