The BBC and HBO series Gentleman Jack brought Anne Lister to international attention, awakening tremendous interest in her diaries, which run to nearly five million words and are partly written in her secret code.

Join award-winning writer and historian Jill Liddington, whose Female Fortune (1998) was the book that inspired Sally Wainwright to write Gentleman Jack.

At this exciting talk, Jill will discuss As Good as a Marriage (2023), the sequel to Female Fortune, which focuses on Jill’s edited transcriptions of the diaries that show us Anne from 1836-38.

Hear about Anne’s life at Shibden Hall after her unconventional ‘marriage’ to wealthy local heiress Ann Walker, and explore the daily lives of these two women, from convivial evenings together to tensions and quarrels. Was their relationship really as fragile as Anne’s coded writing suggests? Join Jill to find out!