Constance

August 6, 2012
Filling a gap in literary biography, this meticulous account of the life of Constance Mary Lloyd and her marriage to Oscar Wilde proves revealing, if cumbersome. Moyle (Desperate Romantics) perfunctorily reviews Lloyd’s upbringing and devotes most of the book to her life with Oscar. Clearly wishing to correct a historically misbegotten view of their relationship, Moyle steadfastly chronicles the love and artistic and creative energy that “the literary couple” shared, from their work together for Woman’s World (a magazine Wilde edited) to the possibility of their collaboration on work that Wilde published under his name. Moyle leads the reader through Lloyd’s spiritual and political pursuits as a liberal married mother in Victorian London, and the frazzled grace with which she attempted to retain a semblance of decent life for herself and her two sons after Wilde’s imprisonment. Refreshingly, Moyle resists the temptation to let Wilde overtake the story even as Wilde’s behavior dictates much of Lloyd’s situation. The book drags, however, particularly in its middle third, as the names of characters and organizations in Lloyd’s life pile up and become a catalogue of facts, rather than a narrative. Still, Moyle has produced a mostly fascinating portrait of a smart, fierce, and misunderstood woman.

September 1, 2012

A beautiful and clever young woman from a well-off but dysfunctional family, Constance Lloyd insisted on marrying the already-famous Oscar Wilde in 1884, despite rumors that Wilde had homosexual tendencies. At first they both seemed happy, furnishing their home and beginning a family. But shortly after their second son, Vyvyan, was born, Oscar began spending more time away, often with handsome young men. After his trial and conviction for sodomy and gross indecency in 1895, Constance remained loyal, visiting him in prison, even offering to take him back. He refused her, preferring his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, after his release. Both died in separate exile, she at age 39 after a botched operation and Wilde two years later in Paris. VERDICT Moyle (Desperate Romantics) does not see Constance as the long-suffering victim that she is often depicted to be. Instead, drawing on over 300 unpublished letters, Moyle presents a compelling portrait of a bright, capable, trendsetting woman who wrote children's books, participated in the women's suffrage movement, and dabbled in spiritualism. This first biography of Constance Wilde will appeal to readers interested in Oscar Wilde's family life and the role of women in fin de siecle London.--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2012
The little-known Constance Lloyd Wilde had some years of surpassing happiness with her gifted, controversial husband before scandal overwhelmed everything. Former BBC arts producer Moyle (Desperate Romantics: The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites, 2009) has a difficult task: keeping the focus on Constance when Oscar's flamboyance, fame and flameout are so riveting. Mostly, she succeeds. The author begins in 1895 at a moment of great success and crisis: Oscar had two hits in the West End, but the scandal of his homosexuality was erupting, which would send him to prison for two years, destroy his reputation and career, and send his wife and two sons into exile to the continent, where they changed their surnames to Holland. After this emotional "teaser" of an opening, Moyle returns to tell the stories of her principals. Constance, whose wealthy father died when she was still a teen, suffered from her mother's verbal and physical abuse. Nonetheless, she emerged as a bright, attractive, talented young woman whom Oscar met via her brother. Oscar, Moyle reminds us, had already lost one young woman--to Bram Stoker. Moyle carefully charts their courtship, marriage and parenthood. Initially, the Wildes were popular in society and helped each other in their work. Oscar was practicing journalism and writing poetry; Constance was involved in various women's causes and wrote stories and essays. All looked well. Then...Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. Oscar's sexual passion for him consumed them all. Moyle shows us a bright, trusting woman who remained devoted even in some of the darkest hours. Juicy literary history. The Wildes' stories would have silenced the Prince in Romeo and Juliet, who said there "never was a story of more woe."

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November 1, 2012
A new trend in biography is to profile the woman behind the man. In the case of the immensely talented and tragically infamous Oscar Wilde, that woman was the beautiful, intelligent, and forward-thinking Constance Lloyd Wilde. Although Oscar's sexual preferences were decidedly male, his marriage, in many ways, was a union of like minds and mutual respect. Constance, an author in her own right, a proponent of the rational dress movement, and a budding spiritualist, was, like her husband, on the cutting edge of more liberal Victorian trends. After Oscar's incarceration for gross indecency in 1895, she was forced to flee to the Continent, where she and her children lived in exile until her premature death at 39 in 1898. Moyle does a great job of setting the scene, firmly grounding her subject in a society and a social order teetering on the edge of a remarkable transformation that unfortunately arrived too late for herself and her family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)