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The Trials of Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall wrote The well of Loneliness, her landmark novel about lesbian love. In 1928 the British establishment put her publisher on trial under the Obscene Publications Act.
573 pages, Paperback
First published July 13, 1998
33 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
About the author
Diana Souhami
21 books72 followersDiana Souhami was brought up in London and studied philosophy at Hull University. She worked in the publications department of the BBC before turning to biography. In 1986 she was approached by Pandora Press and received a commission to write a biography of Hannah Gluckstein. Souhami became a full-time writer publishing biographies which mostly explore the most influential and intriguing of 20th century lesbian and gay lives.
She is the author of 12 critically acclaimed nonfiction and biography books, including Selkirk’s Island (winner of the Whitbread Biography Award), The Trials of Radclyffe Hall (winner of the Lambda Literary Award and shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography), the bestselling Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter (winner of the Lambda Literary Award and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Gertrude and Alice, and Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, and Art. She lives in London.
She is the author of 12 critically acclaimed nonfiction and biography books, including Selkirk’s Island (winner of the Whitbread Biography Award), The Trials of Radclyffe Hall (winner of the Lambda Literary Award and shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography), the bestselling Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter (winner of the Lambda Literary Award and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Gertrude and Alice, and Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, and Art. She lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 28, 2014
You want the woman who wrote the first English lesbian novel to be heroic, which makes this unflinching biography - of a person who turns out to be very difficult to like - uncomfortable but strangely compelling reading.
I've been reading this alongside an audiobook of said novel, The Well of Loneliness, (I'd recommend the combination, but be prepared - while The Well's heroine, Stephen Gordon, is arguably a fantasy version of Radcylffe-Hall, Radclyffe-Hall was no Stephen Gordon.)
I've been reading this alongside an audiobook of said novel, The Well of Loneliness, (I'd recommend the combination, but be prepared - while The Well's heroine, Stephen Gordon, is arguably a fantasy version of Radcylffe-Hall, Radclyffe-Hall was no Stephen Gordon.)
April 29, 2018
I liked The Well of Loneliness a lot, and I wish I could unread this book. No, no, I kid, it’s very good, I couldn’t put it down, I even got used to the author’s style which is a bit odd… but… before reading it, I considered Hall a true LGBT heroine, and now it's not that obvious anymore and it makes me sad. Well, to be honest, there were some disquieting signs in The Well, but I chose to ignore them, so maybe it’s my fault.
Hall and Troubridge were monstrous examples of rich and privileged women who simply destroyed all less privileged people, and also animals, who stood in their way or didn’t fulfill their expectations. I did feel bad for Hall at the end, because she suffered horribly during her last illness, but really, the amount of unhappiness she caused was immense.
I think there are people who are so far removed from the world by the power of their wealth and privilege that they become monsters. They do not recognize or understand the humanity of those who are not their peers; for them, the less privileged become a “subhuman, seething mass”, in the words of Hall’s companion Troubridge. Nothing matters but their ideas, illusions, desires, and wishes.
Yes, they did suffer a lot, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that if your suffering becomes yet another means to put fellow sufferers down, then it has an interesting tendency to become less of a suffering and more of a pleasure. Hall was, in her own eyes as well as in the eyes of her followers, a martyr. And: “There was a distinction in Radclyffe Hall’s view. Martyrs were on a theological par with the peerage. Victims were of a lower order and had no status or reward.”
“Ideas of the best of the breed informed Radclyffe Hall’s political thinking too. She took the package of Conservative politics, allegiance to the ruling class, inherited status, antipathy to communists and Jews (not her ‘one or two really dear Jewish friends’ and her solicitor and doctor, but ‘Jews as a whole’). It also affected her views of feminists and lesbians. Her friends were ones with money and creative ambition.”
“The story was set in the Italian community in London’s Soho. By way of research for authentic settings, they went to St Peter’s Italian Church in Patton Garden, to the best Italian restaurants and to a delicatessen called King Bomba in Old Compton Street.”
“I find it both difficult and tedious to deal with a woman and this I have several times told her quite frankly, asking her to settle all business details with my agents… it is better for women to keep out of business negotiations.” [from Hall’s letter]
“John bought black shirts for Una and Evguenia and they all wore Fascist ribbons in their lapels. Una called the Duce ‘the only great leader in the world today’. In her view he had every right to invade Abyssinia, ‘a barbarian, pagan country incapable of developing its own resources’.”
“It was so much the flat for a writer, she said, and wished they could live in it together. It was cheap because its owners, the Mortaras, were Jewish and hounded out of Italy.”
BUT:
“She was a homophobe’s nightmare: dykish, rich, unyielding, outspoken, successful with women and caring not at all for the small vanities of men.”
And:
“The Well of Loneliness posed problems for those it purported to defend. […] But such embarrassment was a small price when set against the homophobia the book uncovered in the ruling class, the men of the establishment, the government that made the rules, the judiciary that enforced them, the press that disseminated them. […] Her book beamed like the searchlight into the dim lounges of clubs like the Garrick. It lit up the flawed men of power, gossiping with each other, plotting strategy, entrenching prejudice. It was not the state of literature that disturbed them. They did not care about literature. It was passion between women. They feared its acceptance if Radclyffe Hall was heard. They had their view of a woman’s place and they intended to legislate against this affront to it.”
John wins, after all.
Fascinating stuff.
(PS. I just discovered that my spell check changed "Una" to "Unable"... damn right, spell check)
Hall and Troubridge were monstrous examples of rich and privileged women who simply destroyed all less privileged people, and also animals, who stood in their way or didn’t fulfill their expectations. I did feel bad for Hall at the end, because she suffered horribly during her last illness, but really, the amount of unhappiness she caused was immense.
I think there are people who are so far removed from the world by the power of their wealth and privilege that they become monsters. They do not recognize or understand the humanity of those who are not their peers; for them, the less privileged become a “subhuman, seething mass”, in the words of Hall’s companion Troubridge. Nothing matters but their ideas, illusions, desires, and wishes.
Yes, they did suffer a lot, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that if your suffering becomes yet another means to put fellow sufferers down, then it has an interesting tendency to become less of a suffering and more of a pleasure. Hall was, in her own eyes as well as in the eyes of her followers, a martyr. And: “There was a distinction in Radclyffe Hall’s view. Martyrs were on a theological par with the peerage. Victims were of a lower order and had no status or reward.”
“Ideas of the best of the breed informed Radclyffe Hall’s political thinking too. She took the package of Conservative politics, allegiance to the ruling class, inherited status, antipathy to communists and Jews (not her ‘one or two really dear Jewish friends’ and her solicitor and doctor, but ‘Jews as a whole’). It also affected her views of feminists and lesbians. Her friends were ones with money and creative ambition.”
“The story was set in the Italian community in London’s Soho. By way of research for authentic settings, they went to St Peter’s Italian Church in Patton Garden, to the best Italian restaurants and to a delicatessen called King Bomba in Old Compton Street.”
“I find it both difficult and tedious to deal with a woman and this I have several times told her quite frankly, asking her to settle all business details with my agents… it is better for women to keep out of business negotiations.” [from Hall’s letter]
“John bought black shirts for Una and Evguenia and they all wore Fascist ribbons in their lapels. Una called the Duce ‘the only great leader in the world today’. In her view he had every right to invade Abyssinia, ‘a barbarian, pagan country incapable of developing its own resources’.”
“It was so much the flat for a writer, she said, and wished they could live in it together. It was cheap because its owners, the Mortaras, were Jewish and hounded out of Italy.”
BUT:
“She was a homophobe’s nightmare: dykish, rich, unyielding, outspoken, successful with women and caring not at all for the small vanities of men.”
And:
“The Well of Loneliness posed problems for those it purported to defend. […] But such embarrassment was a small price when set against the homophobia the book uncovered in the ruling class, the men of the establishment, the government that made the rules, the judiciary that enforced them, the press that disseminated them. […] Her book beamed like the searchlight into the dim lounges of clubs like the Garrick. It lit up the flawed men of power, gossiping with each other, plotting strategy, entrenching prejudice. It was not the state of literature that disturbed them. They did not care about literature. It was passion between women. They feared its acceptance if Radclyffe Hall was heard. They had their view of a woman’s place and they intended to legislate against this affront to it.”
John wins, after all.
Fascinating stuff.
(PS. I just discovered that my spell check changed "Una" to "Unable"... damn right, spell check)
May 24, 2012
In her own lifetime, she considered herself one of the most famous and important English writers. Odds are, you’ve never heard of her, which is a shame because she did a very significant thing. She wrote the first novel that openly (well, openly for the time) talked about lesbianism. In the UK, there was a court case and the book was banned. The Well of Loneliness is no encouragement for being a lesbian, it portrays a sad and isolated sort of life. It’s not the most gorgeous prose I’ve ever read either, but it does seem honest and direct, and in terms of the history of GLBT writing and freedom of speech, it matters.
This biography covers all of Radclyffe Hall’s life, with quotes from diaries, letters and journals along the way. This is not the mournful isolation of The Well of Loneliness, but a woman who spent most of her time with other women in her life, and in her bed. Radclyffe Hall emerges as a complex, messed up person with some weird ideas. These days she might well have identified as transgender, but the concept barely existed in the early part of the twentieth century, and instead she called herself an ‘invert’. The biography also tells the stories of the other women in her life, and the ways in which they shaped, manipulated, encouraged and undermined the author. As a portrayal of the messed up psychology of human beings, it’s powerful stuff.
The biographical story itself contains the kinds of twists and ironic parallels that would seem more likely in fiction. It also has a lot of things that may be of wider interest to those exploring period history. The Bloomsbury set go by in the background, along with other creative people of the time. We get glimpses of Italy before the Second World War, and, quite fascinatingly, a pro-fascist perspective, and Catholicism. I’m still trying to work out how a bunch of unrepentant lesbians could possibly self identify as Catholic and Fascist, and not get very confused about how to make that work, but apparently, they managed it.
An intriguing, well written book that illuminates not only the life of a complex and significant author, but that offers an unusual view of Europe in the first part of the twentieth century. Although I didn’t love The Well of Loneliness as a novel, I think sheer curiosity would now incline me to pick up any other Radclyffe Hall texts that came my way.
This biography covers all of Radclyffe Hall’s life, with quotes from diaries, letters and journals along the way. This is not the mournful isolation of The Well of Loneliness, but a woman who spent most of her time with other women in her life, and in her bed. Radclyffe Hall emerges as a complex, messed up person with some weird ideas. These days she might well have identified as transgender, but the concept barely existed in the early part of the twentieth century, and instead she called herself an ‘invert’. The biography also tells the stories of the other women in her life, and the ways in which they shaped, manipulated, encouraged and undermined the author. As a portrayal of the messed up psychology of human beings, it’s powerful stuff.
The biographical story itself contains the kinds of twists and ironic parallels that would seem more likely in fiction. It also has a lot of things that may be of wider interest to those exploring period history. The Bloomsbury set go by in the background, along with other creative people of the time. We get glimpses of Italy before the Second World War, and, quite fascinatingly, a pro-fascist perspective, and Catholicism. I’m still trying to work out how a bunch of unrepentant lesbians could possibly self identify as Catholic and Fascist, and not get very confused about how to make that work, but apparently, they managed it.
An intriguing, well written book that illuminates not only the life of a complex and significant author, but that offers an unusual view of Europe in the first part of the twentieth century. Although I didn’t love The Well of Loneliness as a novel, I think sheer curiosity would now incline me to pick up any other Radclyffe Hall texts that came my way.
August 10, 2013
I was very intrigued by the idea of reading a biography of Radclyffe Hall, author of one of the first lesbian novels published. I was most interested in the circumstances surrounding the publication of the book and the objections to it, but also in understanding her contradictory, conservative, often unpleasant-sounding character.
But unfortunately there's something terribly boring about this book -- the level of detail is ridiculous. I half-expected to be told exactly what John typically ate for breakfast, which had no bearing at all on her writing. Most of the detail does have some bearing on it -- explanations of her family life, her religion, her politics -- but a lot of it just felt over the top. I mean, we get to hear how one of her lovers furnished her bedroom ("with a cream carpet, yellow curtains, an Italian four-poster bed, Indian paintings and portraits of George and Johnnie", if you were curious).
She remains a fascinating figure, but far from being "outrageously entertaining" (as the cover claims), it sucked all the life out of Radclyffe Hall for me.
But unfortunately there's something terribly boring about this book -- the level of detail is ridiculous. I half-expected to be told exactly what John typically ate for breakfast, which had no bearing at all on her writing. Most of the detail does have some bearing on it -- explanations of her family life, her religion, her politics -- but a lot of it just felt over the top. I mean, we get to hear how one of her lovers furnished her bedroom ("with a cream carpet, yellow curtains, an Italian four-poster bed, Indian paintings and portraits of George and Johnnie", if you were curious).
She remains a fascinating figure, but far from being "outrageously entertaining" (as the cover claims), it sucked all the life out of Radclyffe Hall for me.
October 7, 2024
This woman’s life was absurdly comical and so tragic at the same time. This biography is appropriately compelling and uncomfortable and funny and unforgiving. The writer’s style and choice of detail is a bit odd but does convey the ridiculousness of Radclyffe Hall’s life and of the woman herself.
Here’s a good taste of the book: Hall’s novel about lesbian relationships was attacked and suppressed in the UK for obscenity, but when the literary community moved to help the book stay published, Hall was not too grateful. Virginia Woolf explains:
I would love a play made out of this biography.
Here’s a good taste of the book: Hall’s novel about lesbian relationships was attacked and suppressed in the UK for obscenity, but when the literary community moved to help the book stay published, Hall was not too grateful. Virginia Woolf explains:
“Radclyffe… says that she won’t have any letter written about her book unless it mentions the fact that it is a work of artistic merit - even genius. And no one has read her book; or can read it: and now we have to explain this to all the great signed names... So our ardour in the cause of freedom of speech gradually cools, and instead of offering to reprint the masterpiece, we are already beginning to wish it unwritten.” (p. 184)
I would love a play made out of this biography.
September 12, 2018
A particularly rigorous and interesting biography of an overlooked early 20th British writer. I am quite fond of her novel, The Well of Loneliness, so I was eager to read about her life. The upper class/socioeconomic status she grew up seemed to affect her mentality and definitely followed into her adulthood – she was politically very conservative and was active in the Catholic Church. Her personality was especially striking - she was known for having a temper and wasn’t always a nice person. She reminds me a little of Virginia Woolf. Like Woolf, Radclyffe Hall was brilliant but temperamental and wasn't afraid of voicing her opinions. :-)
January 12, 2022
rich white women are at it again
April 6, 2019
Excellent read. A complex character study of a complex set of characters and their relationships to each other, society and art. Despite her fame as the author of 'The Well of Loneliness' Radclyffe was anything but; aside from having many lovers she was well known amongst all the major writers of her time. The "trials" referenced in the title refer in part to actual court cases she was involved in - she came within a hair's breadth of being subject to the same fate as Oscar Wilde (and the reason why she *wasn't* subject to it is startling)!
Radclyffe and her lovers are FAR from perfect or what you might expect and the author fairly quickly takes a negative view of Hall (and the woman who ends up being her life partner). This can become distracting, she even starts to go so far as to describe Hall's various novels, as they come up, as essentially terrible - though later we learn that they each recieve widespread critical praise when they are published. So I recommend taking her narratorial bias with a grain of salt as you read.
Otherwise, the author is a very fine writer who has clearly done her research. She is able to deliver the surprising life story of Radclyffe in an engaging and complete way that is also filled with interesting historical detail. A very interesting read.
Radclyffe and her lovers are FAR from perfect or what you might expect and the author fairly quickly takes a negative view of Hall (and the woman who ends up being her life partner). This can become distracting, she even starts to go so far as to describe Hall's various novels, as they come up, as essentially terrible - though later we learn that they each recieve widespread critical praise when they are published. So I recommend taking her narratorial bias with a grain of salt as you read.
Otherwise, the author is a very fine writer who has clearly done her research. She is able to deliver the surprising life story of Radclyffe in an engaging and complete way that is also filled with interesting historical detail. A very interesting read.
October 17, 2015
This is a well written book about two horrible people: Radclyffe Hall and Una Trowbridge. Completely deserving of each other. It is a credit to the author that you finish the book since their behavior actually get worse with age.
January 16, 2025
A difficult book to complete, not because of the writing which is excellent, but because of the subject matter.
Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness, had a privileged but quite depressing life in my opinion, and the relationships she had with Una Troubridge and Evguenia Souline were difficult and challenging to read about.
However, this is an excellent book for anyone wanting to know more about Radclyffe Hall and the times she lived in.
Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness, had a privileged but quite depressing life in my opinion, and the relationships she had with Una Troubridge and Evguenia Souline were difficult and challenging to read about.
However, this is an excellent book for anyone wanting to know more about Radclyffe Hall and the times she lived in.
August 9, 2024
Brilliant book!!!
I feel like I see radclyffe hall - though they seem a little insufferable and self-aggrandising and had un-condonable politics - and that is the sign of a good biography
I feel like I see radclyffe hall - though they seem a little insufferable and self-aggrandising and had un-condonable politics - and that is the sign of a good biography
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2015
Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall was born into a degree of wealth and society but also into a family torn apart by conflict. Abandoned by her father, treated badly by her mother and abused by her stepfather, her early years were difficult. However on the death of her father she came into money and Marguerite transformed into Radclyffe Hall, writer and 'invert'.
Perhaps most famous as the author of 'The Well of Loneliness', a lesbian novel famously banned for obscenity, this biography tells how the trauma of Marguerite's early life had such an influence on her writing and her lifestyle. Mannish in her appearance, Radclyffe Hall had three serious affairs with women lasting many years. Her lifestyle was extravagant, travelling extensively and keeping various pets (usually discarded after a short period for various faults), Radclyffe wrote several books but none matched the impact of 'The Well...'
Souhami is an excellent biographer who produces an unflinching portrait of a woman I found hard to like. Yes, she suffered because of her sexual proclivities but she chose to flaunt her 'inversion' in a conservative society. She felt that she was a great writer but critics were not in agreement and, whilst her most famous oeuvre was banned for obscenity, there was no sex in it. As a sexual predator and great manipulator of her lovers Hall does not present as a sympathetic character but Souhami does a great job of placing her actions into context.
Perhaps most famous as the author of 'The Well of Loneliness', a lesbian novel famously banned for obscenity, this biography tells how the trauma of Marguerite's early life had such an influence on her writing and her lifestyle. Mannish in her appearance, Radclyffe Hall had three serious affairs with women lasting many years. Her lifestyle was extravagant, travelling extensively and keeping various pets (usually discarded after a short period for various faults), Radclyffe wrote several books but none matched the impact of 'The Well...'
Souhami is an excellent biographer who produces an unflinching portrait of a woman I found hard to like. Yes, she suffered because of her sexual proclivities but she chose to flaunt her 'inversion' in a conservative society. She felt that she was a great writer but critics were not in agreement and, whilst her most famous oeuvre was banned for obscenity, there was no sex in it. As a sexual predator and great manipulator of her lovers Hall does not present as a sympathetic character but Souhami does a great job of placing her actions into context.
February 10, 2015
If it is all based on truth, it gives a nice inlook into the way of living of this lesbian circle.
The part on the trial was a bit too much detail to me. I liked the description of the way of life and the interaction with other lesbians. It also encouraged me to read (and buy) some of her books and even some other biographical works, eg on Vita Sackville-West.
Glad I read the book !
The part on the trial was a bit too much detail to me. I liked the description of the way of life and the interaction with other lesbians. It also encouraged me to read (and buy) some of her books and even some other biographical works, eg on Vita Sackville-West.
Glad I read the book !
February 24, 2015
This is an excellent and meticulously researched biography of Radclyffe Hall and her circle, and brilliantly evokes the lesbian milieu she moved in. The author has a rather abrupt style, with very short sentences, which grated on me at times, and she has a tendency to be just a bit too detailed on occasion, but on the whole the book does just what the best biographies should do – give a non-judgemental and fully explored portrait of the subject, backed up by first –person narratives and accounts when possible, always avoiding speculation and guesswork. I very much enjoyed learning more about this unusual, interesting – if often irritating - character, and gaining a deeper understanding of her life and times.
April 21, 2011
This woman (man) was a selfish, self-indulgent person who grew more unlikeable as the years went on. Her relationships were toxic. Maybe if she'd lived in a more accepting era she would have been a better person. The book was good at describing her entire life and it was fun to look up all the areas of Europe she visited. But the character was impossible for me to understand.
September 25, 2009
A bit wordy but all and all a really good read. The middle part tends to become a bit stale but the beginning and end of this bio is amazing. All and all, totally rec this one for anyone wanting to learn more about gay and lesbian history.
October 9, 2016
An incredibly interesting book about a formidable and at times a detestable woman. None of the people in this book behave well to each other despite their privileged lives, it's very much #richpeopleproblems at points. But still a well written biography and worth a read.
June 5, 2009
For about 90% of this book I was enchanted. And I read the last 10% and grew to not like Radclyffe Hall as much as previously. Sad really.
November 6, 2012
Brilliant biography of a very contradictory woman.
July 7, 2013
Great biography. Good mix of personal detail and professional proces. Such interesting characters and fascinating story I felt like I was reading a novel.
December 26, 2019
I started this biography with great enthusiasm, but ended up disliking just about every character in it. Including Radclyffe Hall, to whom I was initially sympathetic, having enjoyed The Sixth Beatitude and admiring her for being openly lesbian in a society that regarded homosexuality as at best a mental illness.
Perhaps Souhami ended up disliking her as well; she portrays her subject as neurotic, manipulative, self-centered, unkind to animals (always sending them back if they did anything wrong), a bit of a religious nut, a Fascist sympathizer, anti-semitic, mean to her mother, snobbish and racist. I've probably missed out some stuff there. Above all, she forced both of her wives to accept her devotion to, and hence the near-constant presence of, her new loves, while being obsessively jealous herself.
Souhami traces this behavior back to mother issues, and alludes to John's (Hall's preferred name was John) tendency to seek other "selves" to reflect back aspects of herself (I said self-centered, right?) OK, I've no doubt that Hall's childhood and confusion about her sexuality messed her up somewhat, but there were plenty of Victorian and early 20th century homosexuals who managed to be perfectly kind, loving individuals. Such as Mabel Batten ("Ladye"), John's first partner, who seems to have been rather a nice woman, and various other of the interesting characters that made up the gay scene in England and abroad.
Hall appears to have met her match in Una, Lady Troubridge, her second wife after Ladye's death. Una was neurotic, manipulative, self-centered, unkind to animals, a bit of a religious nut, a Fascist sympathizer, anti-semitic, mean to her mother, snobbish and racist: a mirror-self to Hall in so many ways. In addition, Una neglected her only child, a daughter, to a scandalous degree. Una seems to have been a born groupie--after Hall's death she glommed onto a (male) opera singer--and yet a quick zoom around the internet suggests that she had far more personal talent than Souhami's portrait allows to appear. Possibly as much as, or more than, John's; my one foray into Radclyffe Hall's writing suggested to me that she had a talent for interestingly literary plots and autobiographically isolated, unusual characters, but her writing style really wasn't all that great in my opinion.
John stifled Una, and Una stifled John: the appearance on the scene of Russian refugee Evguenia Soulina, John's last love, seems to have made things ten times worse. It was a midlife crisis par excellence: Evguenia seems to have been the great sexual love of John's life, a pet virgin to seduce, a vessel into which she could pour the sexual frustrations undoubtedly built up through two relationships that seem to have been more affectionate than sexual. Having been through the menopause myself, I detect the rampant estrogen levels and emotional ups and downs of pre-menopause in John's behavior, but Souhami doesn't explore that aspect.
The last part of the book is a toxic tale of love, hate, and jealousy that became quite hard to read. Money was a huge factor: John had money, the other two women didn't, so keeping hold of John was an economic necessity as much as anything else. Coupled with both women's behavior toward their mothers and Una's child, it's a nasty tale. I winced every time John referred to Evguenia as "Chinkie Pig"--I can't say I ended up liking Evguenia any more than the other two, but I can't imagine what it would be like to listen to two women make racist slurs about her Asiatic appearance for years. Very much of their time, of course, but it must have hurt.
To me the ending eclipsed the middle of the book, which was about the obscenity trial of The Well of Loneliness. Having just read Oscar: A Biography, I couldn't help comparing the stakes for John (withdrawal of her book from publication in the UK; it continued to sell well in America and elsewhere) and Oscar Wilde (a prison sentence with hard labor, loss of wife, children, reputation, livelihood . . .). They were both people who were determined to be themselves--who built much of their fame on being themselves--but John was born into an age where attitudes were changing fast. And she had way deeper pockets than Oscar, who could never hold on to money anyway.
I wasn't crazy about Souhami's writing style, which seemed to skip superficially over some episodes. Presumably this was to leave room for the blow-by-blow details of the horrendous love triangle, which mostly seem to have been drawn from Una's diaries. I spotted one easily checkable fact that she got wrong; Lamb House, at the time the home of E.F. Benson, is not on the High Street in Rye.
Perhaps Souhami ended up disliking her as well; she portrays her subject as neurotic, manipulative, self-centered, unkind to animals (always sending them back if they did anything wrong), a bit of a religious nut, a Fascist sympathizer, anti-semitic, mean to her mother, snobbish and racist. I've probably missed out some stuff there. Above all, she forced both of her wives to accept her devotion to, and hence the near-constant presence of, her new loves, while being obsessively jealous herself.
Souhami traces this behavior back to mother issues, and alludes to John's (Hall's preferred name was John) tendency to seek other "selves" to reflect back aspects of herself (I said self-centered, right?) OK, I've no doubt that Hall's childhood and confusion about her sexuality messed her up somewhat, but there were plenty of Victorian and early 20th century homosexuals who managed to be perfectly kind, loving individuals. Such as Mabel Batten ("Ladye"), John's first partner, who seems to have been rather a nice woman, and various other of the interesting characters that made up the gay scene in England and abroad.
Hall appears to have met her match in Una, Lady Troubridge, her second wife after Ladye's death. Una was neurotic, manipulative, self-centered, unkind to animals, a bit of a religious nut, a Fascist sympathizer, anti-semitic, mean to her mother, snobbish and racist: a mirror-self to Hall in so many ways. In addition, Una neglected her only child, a daughter, to a scandalous degree. Una seems to have been a born groupie--after Hall's death she glommed onto a (male) opera singer--and yet a quick zoom around the internet suggests that she had far more personal talent than Souhami's portrait allows to appear. Possibly as much as, or more than, John's; my one foray into Radclyffe Hall's writing suggested to me that she had a talent for interestingly literary plots and autobiographically isolated, unusual characters, but her writing style really wasn't all that great in my opinion.
John stifled Una, and Una stifled John: the appearance on the scene of Russian refugee Evguenia Soulina, John's last love, seems to have made things ten times worse. It was a midlife crisis par excellence: Evguenia seems to have been the great sexual love of John's life, a pet virgin to seduce, a vessel into which she could pour the sexual frustrations undoubtedly built up through two relationships that seem to have been more affectionate than sexual. Having been through the menopause myself, I detect the rampant estrogen levels and emotional ups and downs of pre-menopause in John's behavior, but Souhami doesn't explore that aspect.
The last part of the book is a toxic tale of love, hate, and jealousy that became quite hard to read. Money was a huge factor: John had money, the other two women didn't, so keeping hold of John was an economic necessity as much as anything else. Coupled with both women's behavior toward their mothers and Una's child, it's a nasty tale. I winced every time John referred to Evguenia as "Chinkie Pig"--I can't say I ended up liking Evguenia any more than the other two, but I can't imagine what it would be like to listen to two women make racist slurs about her Asiatic appearance for years. Very much of their time, of course, but it must have hurt.
To me the ending eclipsed the middle of the book, which was about the obscenity trial of The Well of Loneliness. Having just read Oscar: A Biography, I couldn't help comparing the stakes for John (withdrawal of her book from publication in the UK; it continued to sell well in America and elsewhere) and Oscar Wilde (a prison sentence with hard labor, loss of wife, children, reputation, livelihood . . .). They were both people who were determined to be themselves--who built much of their fame on being themselves--but John was born into an age where attitudes were changing fast. And she had way deeper pockets than Oscar, who could never hold on to money anyway.
I wasn't crazy about Souhami's writing style, which seemed to skip superficially over some episodes. Presumably this was to leave room for the blow-by-blow details of the horrendous love triangle, which mostly seem to have been drawn from Una's diaries. I spotted one easily checkable fact that she got wrong; Lamb House, at the time the home of E.F. Benson, is not on the High Street in Rye.
June 15, 2023
Diana Souhami’s Lambda Award–winning biography is a fascinating look at one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing lesbian literary figures.
^from Barnes & Noble
This is a biography that doesn’t lionize the main characters and truly delves into the flaws and also the things they came up against. To be honest part of what was fascinating was how little has changed in a way. The arguments people use to ban books are still the same today, and just as ridiculous. That part was really fascinating to read now, and also about the life of this really complicated person who could often be quite terrible.
^from Barnes & Noble
This is a biography that doesn’t lionize the main characters and truly delves into the flaws and also the things they came up against. To be honest part of what was fascinating was how little has changed in a way. The arguments people use to ban books are still the same today, and just as ridiculous. That part was really fascinating to read now, and also about the life of this really complicated person who could often be quite terrible.
May 20, 2022
This book was interesting. We hear a lot about the LG community these days. I didn’t realize there was a lesbian community back in the early 1920s. This book also give a good example of how money and fame can be so controlling. The book was very long and about half way through I stopped reading the diary entries. But didn’t feel doing so lessened what I learned about Radcliffe-Hall.
September 9, 2020
It was a bit disappointing to find what an unpleasant person RH was. Far from being an avatar for LGB persons, she was quite cruel and self-absorbed it seems.
April 28, 2022
diss reading 😋😋
October 26, 2025
Crazy woman! But overall well researched
August 20, 2016
This was a tough one for me because of the author's choices during the first half of the book...it felt repetitive and drawn out but then...came the second half.
This was one of those books that I had to determinedly stick with to the very, very end and then, wow! The story's arc revealed the main characters' nobility, narrow and high-mindedness, jealousy, and faults.
Souhami took great effort to deliver a complex story about cultural trail blazers who also behaved incredibly wretched to one another, all justified by their own ideas of class, exclusion and inclusion.
By the end, though Radclyffe Hall had taken on an incredible fight in her life by standing up for "The Well...", her relationships were a train wreck -- particularly Lady Troubridge.
This book and the people it tells of prove reality is much more fascinating, and sometimes incredibly more tragic, than fiction.
This was one of those books that I had to determinedly stick with to the very, very end and then, wow! The story's arc revealed the main characters' nobility, narrow and high-mindedness, jealousy, and faults.
Souhami took great effort to deliver a complex story about cultural trail blazers who also behaved incredibly wretched to one another, all justified by their own ideas of class, exclusion and inclusion.
By the end, though Radclyffe Hall had taken on an incredible fight in her life by standing up for "The Well...", her relationships were a train wreck -- particularly Lady Troubridge.
This book and the people it tells of prove reality is much more fascinating, and sometimes incredibly more tragic, than fiction.
January 5, 2010
well written biography of a not so likeable person. very boring at times but i would blame that on the theme.
didn-t-actually-read-dnf
April 29, 2014The font was too small for me. I just couldn't get into it. I wanted to. Wish it was on kindle. :(
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