[Cover Illustration] Dedicated to O U R T H R E E S E L V E S Other novels by Radclyffe Hall THE UNLIT LAMP ADAM’S BREED THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE The Well of LONELINESS * * * * * * * * * * By R A D C L Y F F E H A L L With a Commentary by Havelock Ellis [Illustration] Blue Ribbon Books, Garden City, New York Copyright 1928 By Radclyffe Hall CL MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COMMENTARY I _HAVE read_ The Well of Loneliness _with great interest because—apart from its fine qualities as a novel by a writer of accomplished art—it possesses a notable psychological and sociological significance. So far as I know, it is the first English novel which presents, in a completely faithful and uncompromising form, one particular aspect of sexual life as it exists among us to-day. The relation of certain people—who while different from their fellow human beings, are sometimes of the highest character and the finest aptitudes—to the often hostile society in which they move, presents difficult and still unsolved problems. The poignant situations which thus arise are here set forth so vividly, and yet with such complete absence of offence, that we must place Radclyffe Hall’s book on a high level of distinction._ Havelock Ellis AUTHOR’S NOTE A_LL the characters in this book are purely imaginary, and if the author in any instance has used names that may suggest a reference to living persons, she has done so inadvertently._ _A motor ambulance unit of British women drivers did very fine service upon the Allied front in France during the later months of the war, but although the unit mentioned in this book, of which Stephen Gordon becomes a member, operates in much the same area, it has never had any existence save in the author’s imagination._ BOOK ONE CHAPTER 1 1 Not very far from Upton-on-Severn—between it, in fact, and the Malvern Hills—stands the country seat of the Gordons of Bramley; well-timbered, well-cottaged, well-fenced and well-watered, having, in this latter respect, a stream that forks in exactly the right position to feed two large lakes in the grounds.