Overview

History remembers the greats – but what about those who lived alongside them? In the cultural ferment of late nineteenth-century London, three fascinating but often overlooked figures navigated the world in the shadow of their celebrated brothers. Willie Wilde, the hapless yet charming older sibling of Oscar, never quite matched his brother’s literary genius. Mabel Beardsley, the striking and ambitious sister of Aubrey, played a crucial role in his artistic ascent before forging her own path on the stage. And Howard Sturgis, a minor novelist with a sharp wit, watched as his brother Julian achieved the success he himself never quite grasped. Moving through bohemian clubland, West End theatres, literary salons, and the pages of The Yellow Book, these siblings were more than just footnotes to history. Their lives – filled with ambition, scandal, devotion, and missteps – offer a fresh perspective on the glittering world of the 1890s. Drawing on family history, sharp storytelling, and original research, Matthew Sturgis reveals the vibrant, overlooked figures who shaped their era. For lovers of literary and cultural history, it is an invitation to explore the road less travelled – a sidelight that, as Mabel Beardsley knew well, can sometimes be the most illuminating.

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9781804543665

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Reviews

[A] beguiling biographical triptych ... highly enjoyable -- Thomas W Hodgkinson * Literary Review * A needle-sharp account of familial rivalry ... for a biographer as perceptive as Matthew Sturgis, there is no such thing as a minor life -- Kathryn Hughes * The Times * Matthew Sturgis has written wonderful biographies of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley – he inhabits the 1890s like a native – and his look at their siblings in RELATIVE FAILURES gives a fresh perspective on them … engaging and original -- Melanie McDonagh * The Standard *

[A] beguiling biographical triptych ... highly enjoyable -- Thomas W Hodgkinson * Literary Review *

[A] beguiling biographical triptych ... highly enjoyable -- Thomas W Hodgkinson * Literary Review * A needle-sharp account of familial rivalry ... for a biographer as perceptive as Matthew Sturgis, there is no such thing as a minor life -- Kathryn Hughes * The Times *

Author Information

Matthew Sturgis is the author of acclaimed biographies of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and Walter Sickert, as well as Passionate Attitudes: The English Decadence of the 1890s. He has contributed to the TLS, Harpers & Queen and the Independent on Sunday. Matthew is on the editorial board of The Wildean, the journal of the Oscar Wilde society. Oscar: A Life was nominated for the Wolfson History Prize 2019 and a Sunday Times and TLS Book of the Year.

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