Published in 1928, The Well of Loneliness (TWL) is more famous for the uproar that it caused than it is for its literary merits. Hall's autobiographic novel is about a woman discovering and experiencing her own homosexuality.

TWL is the story of Stephen Gordon, a novelist and only daughter of a wealthy family. Stephen's parents were childless for 10 years after marriage; when they finally conceived they were convinced their child was a boy and chose the name Stephen for it. However, when it was born, the child was a girl. The parent's nonetheless named her Stephen. The recurring theme of the book is that Stephen has the attitudes, feelings and desires of a male because of "sexual inversion." Inversion is a Freudian antiquity which ascribes atypical sexual behavior to this kind of mismatch between biological sex and social gender. In the Freudian view, inversion is a medical problem|AMP|mdash;not a perversion. Stephen's sexual attraction to women is therefore out of her control. Stephen's lesbian love affairs are numerous and disastrous. The book ends with the loss of Stephen's most recent love, followed by an impassioned plea for equal treatment of homosexuals.

TWL is boring. I must admit that I read the first third, skipped the middle, and skimmed the end. Its language is inflated and the dialogue is stilted. The story itself relies too heavily on martyrdom and self-pity. I kept wanting to scream at the characters because they did such silly things.