A review by alysmw
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister by Anne Lister

5.0

This book is hilarious and eye-opening. I read it because Id watched Gentleman Jack but this is all set in the period of her life where she's younger (and far more beefy) before the TV series starts. It was cool in general to get such a good look at the life and views of another person living in a different time and how different her concerns were. The lesbian stuff was also astonishing because she wasn't just a sad lonely lesbian (although at times that is a theme); she slept with loads of women and really doesn't seem to have found it that hard to find people. At one point she even got a lesbian bff and they openly discussed being a lesbian?? And this is all in a rural village in Yorkshire. The townspeople don't seem to have had any problem and were far more concerned about her snobbishness. Just amazing. Also from a gossip point of view her life is WILD. The beef is constant. It's like Jane Austen but more beefy and real and also gay.