Gentleman Jack: A biography of Anne Lister, Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist
Gentleman Jack: A biography of Anne Lister, Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist book cover

Gentleman Jack: A biography of Anne Lister, Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist

Kindle Edition

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Price
$5.99
Publisher
Serpent's Tail
Publication Date

Description

A fascinating book about a remarkable woman,Steidele's steely account of the lives behind the first rainbowed plaque is a triumph of truth over fantasy. Lister's extraordinary pioneering life deserves to be remembered,Angela Steidele has written a Regency romp which gives a vivid glimpse into a hidden world of female eroticism,Paints a vivid picture of a woman who lived and loved as she pleased,Steidele might just be a German equivalent to Jeanette Winterson,Really a joy to read,What a character, what material! ...And now also a narrative phenomenon,A highly recommended book about a breathtakingly adventurous woman's life --This text refers to the paperback edition. Angela Steidele has written several books about LGBTQ+ lives in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Love Story: Adele Schopenhauer and Sibylle Mertens was shortlisted for the NDR Kultur non-fiction prize. She won the Gleim Literature Prize for In Men's Clothes , her biography of Catharina Linck, and the Bavarian Book Prize for her novel Rosenstengel . Angela Steidele lives in Cologne. --This text refers to the paperback edition. Anne Lister's rich and unconventional life is now the subject of the major BBC TV drama series Gentleman JackAnne Lister's journals were so shocking that the first person to crack their secret code hid them behind a fake panel in his ancestral home. Lister was a Regency landowner, an intrepid world traveller ... and an unabashed lover of other women.In this bold new biography, prizewinning author Angela Steidele uses the diaries to create a portrait of Anne Lister as we've never seen her before: a woman in some ways very much of her time and in others far ahead of it. Lister recorded everything from the most intimate details of her numerous liaisons through to her plans to make her fortune by exploiting the coal seams under her family estate in Halifax and her reaction to the Peterloo massacre. She conducted a love life of labyrinthine complexity, while searching for a girlfriend who could provide her with both financial security and true love.'A fascinating book about a remarkable woman.'The Times'Angela Steidele has written a Regency romp which gives a vivid glimpse into a hidden world of female eroticism.'Spectator'Steidele's steely account of the lives behind the first rainbowed plaque is a triumph of truth over fantasy. Lister's extraordinary pioneering life deserves to be remembered.'Guardian --This text refers to the paperback edition. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Longlisted for the
  • 2019
  • Portico Prize
  • The extraordinary life of history's first modern lesbian who inspired the popular television series
  • Gentleman Jack.
  • Anne Lister's journals were so shocking that the first person to crack their secret code hid them behind a fake panel in his ancestral home. Anne Lister was a Regency landowner, an intrepid world traveller ... and an unabashed lover of other women.In this bold new biography, prizewinning author Angela Steidele uses the diaries to create a portrait of Anne Lister as we've never seen her before: a woman in some ways very much of her time and in others far ahead of it. Anne Lister recorded everything from the most intimate details of her numerous liaisons through to her plans to make her fortune by exploiting the coal seams under her family estate in Halifax and her reaction to the Peterloo massacre. She conducted a love life of labyrinthine complexity, all while searching for a girlfriend who could provide her with both financial security and true love.Anne Lister's rich and unconventional life is now the subject of the major BBC TV drama series
  • Gentleman Jack
  • .

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(205)
★★★★
25%
(171)
★★★
15%
(102)
★★
7%
(48)
★
23%
(157)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Overdue biography of 19th century women and sex about an unabashed sexual woman.

Good mix of some of Lister's translated diaries with historical analysis. One quibble with the author comes at the end of the book, when she demeans Lister as "a beast". Not sure where that came from. It certainly is not the case. Anne Lister gives us a much-needed historical look-see into the personal and sexual lives of young women locked inside a male cage designed to constrain and rob them of all intelligence, joie de vivre and choices in life. Lister's lovers were bisexual or lesbian. She never forced or was violent with any of them, unlike males. She understood the cage and refused to abide it, preferring adventure and freedom, even if it was reckless toward herself. Of Ann Walker, while she was wealthier that Lister, not a small attraction given that women of the time had few income options, she is a less adventuresome lesbian partner but by no means a pushover. It's stunning how well-traveled both women were in comparison to today, when it is utterly unsafe to go and do what these 2 women did 200 years ago.
57 people found this helpful
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SPOILER ALERTS if watching Gentleman Jack

Wait until the series is over before you read this incredible accounting of the "Life and times of Anne Lister". Well done, the author took up the calling and delivered.
11 people found this helpful
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A deeper understanding of Anne Lister

I wanted to read up on the ‘real life’ story of Anne Lister after seeing the HBO series. I read Anne Choma’s book (also great), but wanted to know some more details about Anne’s earlier/later life (Choma’s deals primarily with the Ann Walker relationship/HBO Season 1 time frame). I found Steidele’s account fascinating and appreciated all the work the author put into it. Where the HBO series somewhat sanitizes the story of Anne Lister (no complaining… in this day and age I can use the occasional break from reality), this account gives you a better idea of her complexities. At the end of the book, the author says of Anne Lister, “first she seduced me, then she betrayed me... and yet I could not let go of her.” I went through a similar arc after falling in love with her in the HBO series. A more nuanced picture from the books forced me to grapple with all sides of her. She was amazing, courageous, brilliant, charming, audacious and, yes, she could also be a selfish, arrogant, materialistic and mean-spirited ‘beast’. She was a human being full of difficult contradictions. I appreciated coming away with a more mature understating of her.
3 people found this helpful
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What a Ride!

This book was very well sourced and researched, and I enjoyed the author's style. Occasionally, some parts would get a bit confusing due to the similarities of people's names, but the author got me right back on track. This book tells us so much that the show leaves out, and it painted such a clear picture of Anne. Much like the author (and Anne's many lovers), I fell in love with Anne, and then she let me down.
3 people found this helpful
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Narratively tough

This is clearly a diary and not a novel! It was interesting at parts because of the historical context, but supremely long and windy - really tough to get through. I am sure the TV show does a better job of putting a narrative together!
1 people found this helpful
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Not my cup of tea

Not written in the style I prefer for biographies.
1 people found this helpful
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Brilliant

Great story; amazing woman
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Many spoilers !!!!!

Excellent book, but watch the entire show before reading it !!! It will interfere with your being drawn into the brilliant drama and phenomenal acting.
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Timeline of events helpful

I enjoyed this book. It gave a few different details to the life of Anne Lister. Put things into a timeline which made me understand certain aspects of her life better.
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Sexy... sexy!

Loved show am enjoying the book right now!

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