Grenville Kate

Madness, cruelty, and sexuality permeate the household in which Lilian Una Singer is raised-an upper-crust Victorian world of teacups and servants. But Lilian, shielded by layers of fat, an iron will, and an indomitable spirit, has her sights set on an education, love, and-finally-her own transcendent forms of independence.

In this "startling, fascinating, disturbing" (Library Journal) companion to Lilian's Story, Kate Grenville takes on a daunting challenge: to imagine, from the inside out, how an apparently respectable Victorian gentleman can persuade himself that he has a right, perhaps even a "manly" duty to rape any woman under his control: his shopgirls, his servants, his wife, even his daughter.