'As a man loved a woman, that was how I loved...It was good, good, good...' Stephen is an ideal child of aristocratic parents - a fencer, a horse rider and a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions. The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity when published in 1928. It became an international bestseller, and for decades was the single most famous lesbian novel. It has influenced how love between women is understood, for the twentieth century and beyond.

The Unlit Lamp (1924) is a novel by Radclyffe Hall. After publishing several collections of poems, Hall turned to fiction in 1924 with two successful novels. The Unlit Lamp is the story of a young woman with an unhappy home life who falls in love with an older teacher and dreams of moving to London to become a doctor. Despite her independent spirit, Joan struggles to escape the clutches of her controlling mother. "Mrs. Ogden put her hand up to her head wearily, glancing at Joan as she did so. Joan was so quick to respond to the appeal of illness. Mrs. Ogden would not have admitted to herself how much she longed for this quick response and sympathy. [...] There were times, growing more frequent of late, when she longed, yes, longed to break down utterly, to become bedridden, to be waited upon hand and foot, to have arresting symptoms of her own, any number of them." Unhappily married to the Colonel, a cold and distant man, Mrs. Ogden depends on her daughters for emotional support. As Joan and Milly draw closer the age of independence, however, their mother begins thinking up ways to keep them at home, stifling their personal interests and desires. When Elizabeth Rodney, a governess, arrives to teach the sisters, Joan develops not only an attraction to the older woman, but a desire to move with her to London, where she dreams of becoming a doctor. Tragic and psychologically piercing, The Unlit Lamp is a story of friendship, family, and desire that continues to be recognized as a groundbreaking work of lesbian literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Radclyffe Hall's The Unlit Lamp is a classic work of British literature reimagined for modern readers.

Gian-Luca has a rocky start in life, his mother dying in childbirth, his father unknown, and he is sent to grow up with his grandparents amongst an Italian immigrant community on Old Compton Street. He becomes a waiter, where he learns the value of hard work, and soon lands a promotion to head waiter in a fine-dining restaurant. He excels in this position, and it is not long before he meets Maddelena, to whom he gets married. It seems he has found a happy ending. However, despite his marriage to Maddelena and his achievements in his work, he finds he is not happy, after all. Life loses its joy, and he comes to despise those he serves in the restaurant, seeing in the diners the ugly side of society. Disconsolate, he sets out to seek a more fulfilling life, and becomes a hermit, trying to reconnect with nature, and hoping to find peace outside of society. Despite winning awards upon its publication, Adam’s Breed sank into obscurity following the censorship of Hall’s later novel The Well of Loneliness. An early example of immigrant narratives, yet still relevant today, it is time Gian-Luca’s stirring tale found its way back to the canon.

The Unlit Lamp (1924) is a novel by Radclyffe Hall. After publishing several collections of poems, Hall turned to fiction in 1924 with two successful novels. The Unlit Lamp is the story of a young woman with an unhappy home life who falls in love with an older teacher and dreams of moving to London to become a doctor. Despite her independent spirit, Joan struggles to escape the clutches of her controlling mother. “Mrs. Ogden put her hand up to her head wearily, glancing at Joan as she did so. Joan was so quick to respond to the appeal of illness. Mrs. Ogden would not have admitted to herself how much she longed for this quick response and sympathy. […] There were times, growing more frequent of late, when she longed, yes, longed to break down utterly, to become bedridden, to be waited upon hand and foot, to have arresting symptoms of her own, any number of them.� Unhappily married to the Colonel, a cold and distant man, Mrs. Ogden depends on her daughters for emotional support. As Joan and Milly draw closer the age of independence, however, their mother begins thinking up ways to keep them at home, stifling their personal interests and desires. When Elizabeth Rodney, a governess, arrives to teach the sisters, Joan develops not only an attraction to the older woman, but a desire to move with her to London, where she dreams of becoming a doctor. Tragic and psychologically piercing, The Unlit Lamp is a story of friendship, family, and desire that continues to be recognized as a groundbreaking work of lesbian literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Radclyffe Hall’s The Unlit Lamp is a classic work of British literature reimagined for modern readers.

A powerful novel of love between women, THE WELL OF LONELINESS brought about the most famous legal trial for obscenity in the history of British law. Banned on publication in 1928, it then went on to become a classic bestseller. 'The archetypal lesbian novel' - TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'The bible of lesbianism' - THE TIMES 'One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature' - NEW STATESMAN 'What do I care for the world's opinion? What do I care for anything but you!' Stephen Gordon (named by a father desperate for a son) is not like other girls: she hunts, she fences, she reads books, wears trousers and longs to cut her hair. As she grows up amidst the stifling grandeur of Morton Hall, the locals begin to draw away from her, aware of some indefinable thing that sets her apart. And when Stephen Gordon reaches maturity, she falls passionately in love with another woman. Introduced by Diana Souhami, author of the acclaimed biography The Trials of Radclyffe Hall

New to Penguin Modern Classics, the seminal work of gay literature that sparked an infamous legal trial for obscenity and went on to become a bestseller. The Well of Loneliness tells the story of tomboyish Stephen, who hunts, wears trousers and cuts her hair short - and who gradually comes to realise that she is attracted to women. Charting her romantic and professional adventures during the First World War and beyond, the novel provoked a furore on first publication in 1928 for its lesbian heroine and led to a notorious legal trial for obscenity. Hall herself, however, saw the book as a pioneer work and today it is recognised as a landmark work of gay fiction. This Penguin edition includes a new introduction by Maureen Duffy. 'The archetypal lesbian novel' - Times Literary Supplement 'One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature' - New Statesman Radclyffe Hall was born in 1880. After an unhappy childhood, she inherited her father's estate and from then on was free to travel and live as she chose. She fell in love and lived with an older woman before settling down with Una Troubridge, a married sculptor. Hall wrote many books but is best known for The Well of Loneliness, first published in 1928. She died in 1943 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery in London. Maureen Duffy was born in 1933 and educated at Kings College London. She became a full-time writer in the 1960s, and has since written numerous screenplays, poetry and novels. A lifelong campaigner for gay rights and animal rights, Duffy is also president of the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society.

This pride month, discover the groundbreaking and moving lesbian novel that rocked the British establishment. As a little girl Stephen Gordon always felt different. A talent for sport, a hatred of dresses and a preference for solitude were not considered suitable for a young lady of the Victorian upper-class. But when Stephen grows up and falls passionately in love with another woman, her standing in the county and her place at the home she loves become untenable. Stephen must set off to discover whether there is anywhere in the world that will have her. The complete and enhanced edition contains extra information and archival material that tells the fascinating story behind The Well's controversial publication, trial and ban in 1928.

This early work by Radclyffe Hall was originally published in 1928 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Well of Loneliness' is a novel that follows an upper-class Englishwoman who falls in love with another woman while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I. Marguerite Radclyffe Hall was born on 12th August 1880, in Bournemouth, England. Hall's first novel The Unlit Lamp (1924) was a lengthy and grim tale that proved hard to sell. It was only published following the success of the much lighter social comedy The Forge (1924), which made the best-seller list of John O'London's Weekly. Hall is a key figure in lesbian literature for her novel The Well of Loneliness (1928). This is her only work with overt lesbian themes and tells the story of the life of a masculine lesbian named Stephen Gordon.