Marriage of Inconvenience

“Robert Brownell weighed in with an enjoyably obsessive re-examination of the marriage of Effie and John Ruskin and the pubic hair question.” - Observer Books of the Year 2013“A page turner, even for those familiar with the subject…The surprising truth that emerges is no less human, and no less revealing about the Victorians than the myths; on the contrary it gives a far more compelling insight into what relationships, family and money really mean.” - Country Life“It is not Brownell’s purpose to deal with the well-known facts but to disinter a scandal and shake the dust off it. With the film Effie Gray due out this year – in which Ruskin is again cast as the bewhiskered prude of legend and his wife as a childlike victim of patriarchal repression – this can only be welcomed.” - The Oldie“Ruskin’s marriage was doomed from the start, but not for the reason most people think, argues this well-researched book.” - The Times“Robert Brownell wants to give the biographical pendulum a hefty shove in the opposite direction. In 600 closely wrought pages he argues that it was Ruskin, not Gray, who was tricked into a fraudulent marriage. What’s more it was Ruskin and not Gray who manoeuvred the whole miserable business to its sensational close.” - Guardian

Robert Brownell is a freelance writer and lecturer specialising in Victorian art and aesthetics, particularly Ruskin and Morris.