Fanny Graham and Stella Boulton were no ordinary Victorian ladies. Beneath their corsets and crinolines they were Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton – or, as the newspapers dubbed them, “the funny He-She ladies”. Arrested after a night at the theatre and charged with outraging public decency and corrupting public morals, they stood trial in 1871, in what became the celebrity case of its day, huge crowds waiting to cheer – and jeer – their every court appearance. Neil McKenna’s novel, which he based on trial transcripts and newspaper cuttings, meticulously pieces together the colourful details of Fanny and Stella’s lives. Equally fascinating is McKenna’s analysis of the sociohistorical context – the word “homosexual” had just been invented, and arrests such as those of Fanny and Stella reflected society’s attempts to reassert its control in the face of perceived threats such as Darwinism or the Fenians. Indeed, despite the best efforts of the Metropolitan Police, attitudes were inexorably changing. As Fanny put it, “What’s the odds, so long as you’re happy?”
