Book dossier

Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace

by Kate Summerscale

1850, Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage drew up at 8 Royal Circus, a grand sandstone house lit by gas lamps. This was the home of the rich widow Lady Drysdale, a vivacious hostess whose soirees were the centre of an energetic intellectual scene. Lady Drysdale's guests were gathered in the high, airy drawing rooms on the first floor, the ladies in dresses of glinting silk and satin, bodices pulled tight over boned corsets; the gentlemen in tailcoats, waistcoats, neckties and pleated shirt fronts, dark narrow trousers and shining shoes. When Mrs Robinson joined the throng she was introduced to Lady Drysdale's daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Edward Lane. She was enchanted by the handsome Mr Lane, a medical student ten years her junior. He was fascinating before chastising herself for being so susceptible to a man's charms. But a wish had taken hold of her, which she was to find hard to shake. This is a compelling story of romance and fidelity, insanity, fantasy, and the boundaries of privacy in a society clinging to rigid ideas about marriage and female sexuality. This book brings vividly to life a complex, frustrated Victorian wife, longing for passion and learning, companionship and love.