The Well of Loneliness

New to Penguin Modern Classics, the seminal work of gay literature that sparked a notorious legal trial

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 famous legal trial for obscenity. Hall herself saw the book as a pioneer work and today it is recognised as a landmark work of gay fiction.