Through the words of Halls, it is like a journey with her back in time. From a lesbian point of view, on how she (Stephen Gordon) faced the society and like-wise, how the society sees her. The battle of acceptance and other issues along the way. Radclyffe Hall wrote it as fictional tale, not a autobiography even though many would still view so.
I found the writing to hold up remarkably well. The characters are fleshed enough to resonate. Sir Philip's love for his daughter and mother Anna's reserve and lack of attachment set the stage for a somewhat confusing childhood for Stephen Gordon. Bring to the picture her tutor Puddle who identifies with Stephen's struggle and understands her even before Stephen does, and add the flighty Angela Crossby as her first love interest against a backdrop of unfriendly townspeople; and Hall creates a quite interesting dynamic of unrequited love and betrayal. With Rafferty, she even writes a wonderful horse character! After Stephen's removal from Morton, the family estate, she begins a period of increasing self-sufficiency, assisted by the luxury of relative financial security from her father, and becomes a writer. The years in Paris after the war are an interesting period, peopled with more interesting characters from the parties and circles of outcasts. I found the subplot of the love relationship between Jamie and Barbara to be intensely dramatic, climaxed by Jamie's last act of despair. As for Stephen's letting go of her true love for that love's happiness, it was a rather sad ending. All in all, this is a novel that stands up as important for its sociological implications. It makes one long for a culture in which the pursuit of happiness is respected to be as individual as it is essential for all women and men.
