The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

Based on her own life, 'The Well of Loneliness' tells the story of Sir Philip and Lady Gordon and their daughter. It becomes apparent that she is not like other girls, and falls in love with another woman.

have to say judging on the title, i did have very high hopes for this book.

but then it turns out to be something beautifully written, fruitful plot, and a lot of contradicting themes and how it all ends up reaching nowhere. it was also too languid, for which a lot of things could surely be shortened, and i doubt it was such a masterpiece as Maurice did, as the latter didn't get itself all mixed up in religions and stuffs and the stereotypes of genders. understandably it was hard to adjust the setting, but i think the character development is just not good enough.

the ending was...really...dramatic, if not more unreasonable

3.0/5

“Fear, stark fear, and the shame of such fear-that was the legacy left her by Martin. And yet he had made her so happy at first, she had felt so contented, so natural with him; but that was because they had been like two men, companions, sharing each other's interests” p. 104

“Litera scripta manet.” The written word remains.

Whew this is a long book. I think it felt really long for me because Radclyffe Hall is very descriptive in their writing. Plus, Hall writes every detail of Stephen's life. This story makes for an interesting read for Stephen's journey, but I could have done without all of the fluff in it.

I am sorry to say that I did not connect with the characters in this book. You might, so please do not take my opinion as anything other than a reader who did not make a connection.

I got this book from my library. I love my local library and you should check out yours too. Request LGBTQ+ books and they will stock them! #ebooksforall