Female fortune: The Anne Lister diaries, 1833-36

Jill Liddington’s classic edition of Anne Lister's extraordinary diaries.

Female Fortune is the book which inspired Sally Wainwright to write Gentleman Jack, now a major drama series for the BBC and HBO.

Lesbian landowner Anne Lister inherited Shibden Hall, Halifax in 1826. Lister was an impressive scholar, a fearless traveller and successful businesswoman. Her extraordinary diaries, running to 4-5 million words, were partly written in her own secret code and recorded her love affairs with startling candour. The diaries were included on UNESCO’s UK Memory of the World Register in 2011.

Jill Liddington’s classic edition of the diaries tells the story of how Anne Lister seduced neighbouring heiress Ann Walker, who moved in to live with Anne and her family at Shibden in 1834. Politically active and socially ambitious, Anne Lister door-stepped her tenants at the 1835 Election to vote Tory and employed architects to redesign the Hall and estate, even developing her own coal mines.

Yet Ann Walker had an inconvenient number of local relatives, suspicious of how exactly Anne Lister could pay for all her improvements. Tensions grew to a melodramatic crescendo when news reached Shibden of the pair being burnt in effigy.

This 2021 edition includes a fascinating Afterword on the recent discovery of Ann Walker’s own diary. Female Fortune is essential reading for those who watched Gentleman Jack, and want to know more about the extraordinary woman that was Anne Lister.

‘A unique and thrilling insight into the brilliant mind of Anne Lister.' — Sally Wainwright