As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil

It slightly changes one's view of the Victorians as straight-laced - I was aware of the underworld of prostitution and the double standards; but what really surprised me was how open the intimate relationships between women became and how acceptable that was.

Mishap you have said exactly what I was thinking!!
The master at the public school who was "praised" for how he tickles the boys last thing at night. My jaw dropped!
Close same sex friendships of either sex raised no eyebrows but I wonder if the homosexuality among the women was a reflection of the dangers of childbirth and no option of contraception? But for the wife/widow of the Archbishop of Canterbury to lead this sort of life beggars belief!

I am about half way through this book and find myself quite astonished by it. The entire Benson family (both males and females) appears to have been homosexual. Mrs Benson has repeated crushes on women and her relationships appear to have been physical, although she fights the erotic all through her life. After her husband (the archbishop) dies she shares a bed with a female friend for the rest of her life. And her sons all favour men: one takes himself off to a Greek island where his relationship with another man is not frowned upon; another works in a public school and enjoys catching glimpses of the boys undressing, and tickling them.

Not quite what I had expected from the biography of an archbishop's wife in the Victorian era! - what is amazing is how open all this was - her diaries are fairly explicit really. And close relationships between women seem to have been the order of the day.

Intriguing.

Thanks for the recommendation I've just discovered the Kindle App for my ipad so have downloaded it and added it to my TBR list for reading when I'm on holiday. Now I don't have to take my Kindle and my ipad..

Yes Mishap I too have bought rubbish - mainly because, at just 99p it is no big deal, cheaper than a trashy magazine (which I never buy, I hasten to add ). But as you say, sometimes you just chance on an absolute gem. Recent examples include In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose McColl, A Dog's Purpose by Bruce Cameron, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and many more.

I'm glad that others are so tempted by the kindle daily deal - I have bought some rubbish, but now and again there are some true gems to be found and new (or new to me) authors to be found.

Me too!
I'm accumulating books on Kindle as well as print books - I really need to be more disciplined

Haha anno I can relate to that! I currently have about 45 books waiting to be read on my kindle - and that's apart from about a dozen or so print books.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have downloaded it and it's now on my constantly increasing TBR list.

Great minds - I too downloaded this today for 99p!!