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Gentleman Jack

A Biography of Anne Lister, Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist

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Gentleman Jack

By: Angela Steidele
Narrated by: Heather Peace
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Summary

The extraordinary life of history's first modern lesbian who inspired the television series Gentleman Jack.

Anne Lister's journals were so shocking that the first person to crack their secret code hid them behind a fake panel in his ancestral home. Anne Lister was a Regency landowner, an intrepid world traveller...and an unabashed lover of other women.

In this bold new biography, prizewinning author Angela Steidele uses the diaries to create a portrait of Anne Lister as we've never seen her before: a woman in some ways very much of her time and in others far ahead of it.

Anne Lister recorded everything from the most intimate details of her numerous liaisons through to her plans to make her fortune by exploiting the coal seams under her family estate in Halifax and her reaction to the Peterloo massacre.

She conducted a love life of labyrinthine complexity, all while searching for a girlfriend who could provide her with both financial security and true love. Anne Lister's rich and unconventional life is now the subject of the major BBC TV drama series Gentleman Jack.

©2019 Angela Steidele (P)2019 Audible, Ltd Biographies & Memoirs Historical Biography Middle Ages
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This book brings the life of Anne Lister alive.The narrator was perfect and was easy to listen too
With a chronological account of her unorthodox exploits, alongside extracts from her diaries this is much easier to read than a direct translation of her diaries which can be repetitive and long winded,
I Would definitely recommend as it gives an honest portrayal of Anne Lister and her life, the good ,the bad and yes at times the ugly.
I definitely came to my own conclusion as to her character which surprised me. I wonder what others will think ?

Well written and narrated

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A very interesting social history viewed through the diaries of Ann Lister. although, in my opinion, she comes across as a truly unlikable character. She was ahead of her time and courageous, as her travels around Europe and Russia show. She was also determined to live a life of adventure and freedom. However, her diaries, honest to a fault, show her to be a callous and unfaithful lover; a social climber and all round selfish person. I listened to this after seeing the TV series. I thoroughly enjoyed the series but it didn't show her true character. She came across as quirky and a bit naughty; listening to the diaries gives more depth.

Ann Lister

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A lesbian, feminist diary of lust, status, power and travel. Absolutely wonderful. Quite the Casanova.

loved it!

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Eye opening expose of Ann Lister’s early life. TV didn’t hint at the number and treatment of her lovers.

Journey to Russia and Caucasus was astonishing.

Very interesting and entertaining listen so long as you are not easily shocked

Adds a lot to Gentleman Jack TV series

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Beautifully read. Imagining the amount of time Anne Lister must have spent on her detailed narrative is quite astounding. I was taken by her fearless sense of adventure. Mountaineering in this era in early 19th century attire and limited equipment must have been so treacherous and risky, yet she managed to scale some incredible summits. Her travels took her through very dangerous territories, but her stubborn determination to see these far flung places made her ignore warnings of not to go. Of course, you cannot ignore her sexual exploits: a woman attracted to women, pursuing and seducing them for her pleasure with a promiscuity only permissible to men at this time in history.

Fascinating diarist account of an extraordinary woman from the early 19th century.

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