Radclyffe Hall 
The Well of Loneliness 

First published in 1928, “The Well of Loneliness” is Radclyffe Hall’s semi-autobiographical pioneering work of lesbian literature. The story follows Stephen Gordon, a girl born to upper class parents in late Victorian England. Her parents having expected a boy decided to christen her with the name that they had chosen for him. A strangely coincidental choice as the youth begins to take on a boyish appearance, cutting her hair short and eschewing girly things. Soon it is clear that Stephen sees herself as a man who is attracted to women. This hugely influential work of homosexual or possibly transsexual fiction was harshly criticized by people who were offended by the subject at the time when it was first published. However since then it has been heralded as a seminal and still important work of gay literature. Presented her is the original edition of Radclyffe Hall’s most important novel, “The Well of Loneliness”.