The Well of Loneliness

The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 novel by British author Radclyffe Hall. Banned upon publication due to its lesbian theme, it tells the story of Stephen Gordon, an upper-class Englishwoman and who struggles as a lesbian with the confines of society. A subsequent obscenity trial generated significant publicity for the book, and it has since become a landmark of lesbian fiction.

Plot Summary

After 10 years of marriage, Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon are finally expecting a child. They joyfully plan for the birth of Stephen, a name selected by Sir Philip to remind him of his favorite saint. When Stephen is born, Stephen is a girl, not the young boy they’d been dreaming of. They use the name anyway.

As a child Stephen has a zest for life. She loves to wrestle Sir Philip, ride horses, hunt, and make the most of the green hills of Morton, the Gordon’s ancestral home outside of Upton-on-Severn in England. Around the age of seven, Stephen develops a crush on one of the Gordons’ maids, Collins. Following Collins about the house and obsessing over Collins’s wounded knee are two of Stephen’s favorite pastimes, until she witnesses Collins kissing one of the men in the Gordons’ service.