- Radclyffe Hall (left, 1883*-1943) and Una Lady Troubridge (1892*-1963). Hall and Troubridge, both British, lived and traveled together from the time they met until Hall's death 27 years later. Her second book, Adam’s Breed, became an instant best seller in 1927 and established her literary reputation. It was a sensitive and unique story of a prosperous headwaiter who became so weary of rich foods that he starved himself to death. Success spurred Hall to what she considered her duty in writing The Well of Loneliness, a semiautobiographical novel of “inversion" calculated to enlist public understanding. The first British edition was instantly seized by the Home Office and tried in the Magistrates Court. The publicity led to enormous sales and favorable reviews in other countries, but the proceedings took a heavy toll on Hall's spirits and health. Una Troubridge supported all her efforts and became her biographer soon after she died. Both women were well known in the Italian and French cultural salons of the time, including that of Romaine Brooks, the American-born Parisian portraitist who painted Lady Troubridge.
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