City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Mrs Robinson's disgrace, the private diary of a Victorian lady, Kate Summerscale

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-291) and index

genealogical tables

index present

non fiction

Mrs Robinson's disgrace

788995744

Kate Summerscale

the private diary of a Victorian lady

1850, Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage drew up at 8 Royal Circus, a grand sandstone house lit by gas lamps. This was the home of the rich widow Lady Drysdale, a vivacious hostess whose soirees were the centre of an energetic intellectual scene. Lady Drysdale's guests were gathered in the high, airy drawing rooms on the first floor, the ladies in dresses of glinting silk and satin, bodices pulled tight over boned corsets; the gentlemen in tailcoats, waistcoats, neckties and pleated shirt fronts, dark narrow trousers and shining shoes. When Mrs Robinson joined the throng she was introduced to Lady Drysdale's daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Edward Lane. She was enchanted by the handsome Mr Lane, a medical student ten years her junior. He was fascinating before chastising herself for being so susceptible to a man's charms. But a wish had taken hold of her, which she was to find hard to shake. This is a compelling story of romance and fidelity, insanity, fantasy, and the boundaries of privacy in a society clinging to rigid ideas about marriage and female sexuality. This book brings vividly to life a complex, frustrated Victorian wife, longing for passion and learning, companionship and love

BOOK I THIS SECRET FRIEND -- 1.Here I may gaze and dream -- 2.Poor dear Doddy -- 3.The silent spider -- 4.My imagination heated as though with realities -- 5.And I knew that I was watched -- 6.The future horrible -- BOOK II OUT FLEW THE WEB -- 7.Impure proceedings -- 8.I have lost every thing -- 9.Burn that book, and be happy! -- 10.An insane tenderness -- 11.A great ditch of poison -- 12.The verdict -- 13.In dreams that cannot be laid