The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister: Vol. 1: The extraordinary story of the first modern lesbian whose diaries 'changed everything' Emma Donoghue

'The Lister Diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history; they changed everything' Emma Donoghue, author of Room

These remarkable diaries are a piece of lost lesbian history. Anne Lister defied the role of womanhood seen in the novels of Jane Austen: she was bold, fiercely independent, a landowner, industrialist, traveller - and lesbian. She kept extensive diaries, written partly in code, of her life and loves. The diaries have been edited by Helena Whitbread, who spent years decoding and transcribing them.