Constance is well-written and readable.

Moyle makes a case for Constance having had a stronger influence upon Oscar thandh than is generally assumed. This case seems to rely heavily on commonsensical assumptions, though she does bring under stronger light what might be evidence of Constance's (heavy) hand in one of her husband's fairy tales.

Like so many popular history books, this one has its fair share of speculation, signalled as usual with phrases like 'would surely have', 'must have been' and 'it's very likely' . And like those other books it has too many skimmable digressions: If Moyle feared that readers might know nothing of rational dress, Aestheticism, spiritualism and the like she would have done better to sum these things up in a few sentences or refer the readers to a good cultural survey of the period rather than devote pages to them.

The main problem for me, though, is that Constance Wilde simply seems a unremarkable person. I'm not sorry I read the book and feel sure that anyone who would like to know more about her husband and his circle will find at least a few choice nuggets in it but ultimately Constance Wilde is of interest only because she was married to Oscar . Given Moyle's access to family recollections, I regret that she didn't instead turn her attention to Oscar's niece Dolly or Constance's nephew Fabien, both of whom are infinitely more interesting than their aunt.

By and large, I can't stand Wilde's works, but he was a fascinating man, and the whole 'fin-de-siecle'
world in which he moved, and the people he associated with are equally fascinating. This is a very
good biography of his wife Constance. ( )

There have been a lot of books written about Oscar Wilde, but this is the first about his wife, Constance Wilde, nee Lloyd. Usually portrayed as puritanical and unforgiving, this book, which utilized a lot of unpublished letters, shows a very different picture, one of a loving, intelligent, forgiving and forward thinking woman who was a talented but forgotten writer.

Constance’s life was difficult from the start; her father died when she was young and her mother was emotionally and physically abusive. Constance thought poorly of herself and never expected to marry or make anything of herself. Thankfully, when her mother remarried, Constance was farmed out to relatives in favor of her new step-sister living with the new couple. Her life turned around at that point; she came out of her shell and became considered a beauty and a flirt. Oscar Wilde fell deeply in love with her. Letters he wrote show that the marriage was not a cover; he really did love Constance, although his idea of marriage seemed to have a lot of showmanship to it, an idealized setting for him to act in.

From fairly early in the marriage Constance and Oscar spent time apart. He went to clubs and to the theater by himself frequently; she went to visit friends and take recuperative rests and was a social activist. But they worked together on writing projects, entertained, and were a sought after couple socially. When Oscar first started having sexual relationships with men, Constance didn’t realize it at first because he’d always had close friendships with men, especially younger ones. Things might have gone on like that indefinitely, even though Oscar was starting to neglect both Constance and their sons, if Lord Alfred Douglas- Bosie- hadn’t come into his life. Unlike Oscar’s other boy friends, Bosie was not willing to share Oscar with Constance and his family. He wanted to be the only person of importance in Oscar’s life, and it led to Oscar’s social ouster and imprisonment for homosexuality. Constance and the boys had to leave England because social condemnation damned them, too.

While Bosie painted Constance as a bitch, she continued to support Oscar, both morally and financially, throughout most of his trial and prison term. She was not a vindictive woman. She did not think Oscar was evil. Her moral conscience, and probably continued love for Oscar, would not allow her to feel that way. This book finally sets the record straight on that.

It also chronicles Constance’s chronic illnesses and physical problems, her activities in the newly formed Order of the Golden Dawn and interest in theosophy, her abilities as an artist, her championing women’s freedoms (especially in the area of rational dress), and linguistic abilities. The book also points out that despite all this, she was no saint. She neglected her younger son seriously and even sent her beloved first born off most of the time (although in that era, that was fairly normal for the upper class), over spent for a lot of her married life, and made a lot of bad decisions despite the information staring her in the face. This book presents her as a multidimensional person rather than the caricature she’s been. It also shows Oscar and their marriage in a new light. ( )

Really enjoyed this well researched and well written book that tells the story of what happens to Constance Lloyd, Oscar's wife. One often doesn't hear about her life and her response to her husband's follies. ( )

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:

Written by Franny Moyle.

Constance was a shy child with a bullying mother. After the death of her father she escapes to live with her grandfather and blossoms into a confident, outgoing young woman. ( )