Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady (Hardcover) by Kate Summerscale

from MarthaJeanne

I found this book ultimately unsatisfying. In the end it all falls apart as you realize that the author doesn't really know what happened, and doesn't even have the full text of the famous diary. Mrs. Robinson's life after the divorce case is just dimly outlined. I think a novelist could have had...

from JBD1

A well-researched microhistorical take on a particular divorce case in Victorian England, featuring Isabella Robinson and her salacious diary. Summerscale uses the case study to excellent effect, and the book is very readable and interesting as it delves into not only the specific case, but also ...

from japaul22

I knew of Kate Summerscale from her book, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher. This book is about a Victorian woman, Isabella Robinson, and how her private diary was used by her husband to prosecute a divorce. The Robinsons, Henry and Isabella, are an upper middle class family. Isabella meets Edward ...

from Davidgnp

I enjoyed Kate Summerscale's earlier book 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher'. She consolidates her reputation for me with this absorbing account of a Victorian lady's fall from respectable affluence to disgrace as a result not so much of her sexual appetite but her obsession with writing about it in ...

from Finxy

Review from Badelynge. In Kate Summerscale's previous book The Suspicions of Mr Whicher the author demonstrated that if you are going to try marketing what was essentially an extended essay you could do worse than find a subject that included a notorious Victorian murder, family secrets and a cel...