Wilde's Women: How Oscar Wilde was Shaped by the Women he Knew

Hailed as a gay icon and pioneer of individualism, Oscar Wilde's insistence that 'there should be no law for anybody' made him a staunch defender of gender equality. Women were a source of inspiration shaping his life and career. Wilde's Women is the first book to tell the story of his female friends and colleagues who not only traded witticisms with Wilde but gave him access to vital publicity and informed his social commentaries. Eleanor Fitzsimons reframes Wilde's story and his legacy through the women in his life including such fascinating figures as Florence Balcombe, who left him for Bram Stoker, his inseperable friend, actress Lillie Langtry, and his tragic and witty niece Dolly who loved fast cars, cocaine and foreign women. Replete with fascinating detail and anecdotes, Wilde's Women relates the untold story of how the writer played a vitally sympathetic role on behalf of many women and how they supported him in the midst of a changing Victorian society.