A review by othervee
Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England by Neil McKenna

4.0

Despite the fact that McKenna is clearly embroidering upon fact in many places (I doubt that so many of the players in Fanny and Stella's drama left such vivid accounts of what they were thinking and feeling) I found this a worthwhile read - once I got used to the style. Fanny and Stella themselves come across as suitably complicated people, neither idolised nor demonised here. The embellishment did not detract from the well-researched factual accounts, which shine a light on part of Victorian society which I've known very little about. I'm going to go back and reread the chapter on homosexuality in Deborah Cohen's 'Family Secrets' now, to see how it compares.