A genre-blurring work of academic scholarship & autobiography which takes up as a major focus the long history of trying to downplay and/or obscure McCuller's lesbianism, & what that has meant for queer readers. Insightful byways explored involve such topics as McCuller's idiosyncratic sartorial style, her lifelong physical disabilities, the discovery of previously unpublished love letters, the often deeply conservative nature of institutional archives, artist estates, & academic communities. And while I get why Shapland's insertion of her own life & experiences rankles some, for me it's an eloquent & often moving evocation of how obsessive—& personally invested—some of us get around our research into the historical past, & how it can inadvertently become a proxy for our own processes of self-realization & discovery.

A text that has deeply informed my own thinking on queer historiography & how to relate to the queer past. Bumped up to five stars from a (very strong) four upon a second reading.

"Maybe it’s just that the stories of her relationship with women are partial, hard to compile. To piece them together, you have to read like a queer person, like someone who knows what it is like to be closeted, and who knows how to look for reflections of your own experience in even the most unlikely places"