Terri H. (cobaltcats) reviewed on 4/4/2007 + 27 more book reviews

In 1928, the novel "The Well of Loneliness" was banned as "obscene", and the British courts ordered all copies destroyed. The book, which traces the life and loves of a lesbian writer, has been a best seller ever since. On the face of it, the author, a woman named Radclyffe Hall and known to her friends as John, was a most improbable target for judicial prosecution. Wealthy, middle-aged, a devout Catholic, a loyal Conservative and a passionate animal lover, she was a staunch upholder of the patriarchal values of hearth and home. What few people knew was the the dedicion, "To Our Three Selves", in "Adam's Breed" and in all of Radclyfee Hall['s subsequent works, referred to the late Mrs. Mabel Batten, John's first great love; to Lady Una Troubridge, the admiral's wife who was John's lover and companion for almost three decades; and to Radclyffe Hall herself. Radclyffe Hall saw herself as a man trapped in a woman's body, and dressed in a flamboyantly masculine stype all her own. Devoted to the memory of a father whom she hardly knew, and bullied by an insensitive mother, she grew up lonely and insecure. Though she found happiness, first with Mrs. Batten and then with Lady Una, the unresolved conflicts in her character drove her to acts of infidelity against both, causing pain and anguish on all sides.

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