{"product_id":"the-secret-diaries-of-miss-anne-lister-9781844087198","title":"The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing: Anne Lister's diaries are an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of gender, sexuality, and the intimate lives of women' SARAH WATERS\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history; they changed everything. By resurrecting them and editing them with such loving attention and intelligence, Helena Whitbread has earned the gratitude of a whole generation' EMMA DONOGHUE\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen this volume of Anne Lister's diaries was first published in 1988, it was hailed as a vital piece of lost lesbian history. The editor, Helena Whitbread, had spent years painstakingly researching and transcribing Lister's extensive journals, much of which were written in an elaborate code - what Lister called her 'crypthand', which allowed her to record her life in intimate, and at times, explicit, detail. Until then, Anne Lister's lesbianism had been supressed or hinted at; this was the first time her story had been told. Anne Lister defied the role of nineteenth-century womanhood: she was bold, fiercely independent, a landowner, industrialist, traveller and lesbian - a woman who lived her life on her own terms. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e' Anne Lister's] sense of self, and self-awareness, is what makes her modern to us. She was a woman exercising conscious choice. She controlled her cash and her body. At a time when women had to marry, or be looked after by a male relative, and when all their property on marriage passed to their husband, Anne Lister not only dodged the traps of being female, she set up a liaison with another woman that enhanced her own wealth and left both of them free to live as they wished . . . The diaries gave me courage' JEANETTE WINTERSON\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThese diaries include the years 1816-1824. The second volume, continuing Anne's story, THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS ANNE LISTER: NO PRIEST BUT LOVE, is now available.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnne Lister (1791-1840) lived an unconventional life compared with most women in Regency England. She was unmarried, a landowner, industrialist, traveller and scholar. She wrote extensive diaries, partly in an esoteric code. Helena Whitbread spent years transcribing the diaries and what she discovered was quite extraordinary: the diaries have been called 'the Rosetta Stone of lesbian history'.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Little Brown and Co. (UK)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50363322171666,"sku":"9781844087198","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_69c54577-1642-453c-8095-25506ccec25f.jpg?v=1737070028","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-secret-diaries-of-miss-anne-lister-9781844087198","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}