The Well of Loneliness

<p>The Well of Loneliness is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall it follows the life of Stephen Gordon an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose sexual inversion is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection which Hall depicts as typically suffered by inverts with predictably debilitating effects.</p><p>Publicity over The Well of Loneliness's legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. For decades it was the best-known lesbian novel in English and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find. </p><p>Although critics differ as to the value of The Well of Loneliness as a work of literature its treatment of sexuality and gender continues to inspire study and debate.</p>