The well of loneliness

How and where did you access it?

Library in 1973. I had to request it because it was kept in a back room of the library. When the librarian brought it to me she threw the book at me across the desk.

How did it make you feel?

Awful. I hated it and consider it the worst book I've ever read. It kept me in the closet for over 20 years. I was 20 years old when I read it. I couldn't relate to the book or the characters in any way. I was feminine and ordinary whereas the main character was butch, called herself by a mans name, smoked cigars, went to mens clubs, dressed in men's suits and had a mans haircut. I found this so confusing. I couldn't relate to it in anyway. I couldn't work out why was I attracted to women but I didn't look or behave like a man. The (I nearly wrote female character) woman she has an affair with is insipid and married and so unobtainable. She stays with her husband and 'Stephen' is doomed to exist in abject misery for the rest of her life. I still hate that book.

Did you share it?

You must be joking.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about it?

I wish it wasn't held up as a piece of seminal queer literature for women.

Maggie Jones