The Invention of Adultery

Kate Summerscale’s new book, Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace, is a real-life Victorian melodrama with shades of Madame Bovary and a notorious trial and mystery at its heart. It centres on a celebrated divorce case involving the private diaries of a well-to-do lady – did they contain the truth about an adulterous affair or were they fantasies? Kate Summerscale discusses ‘did she or didn’t she?’ with Judith Flanders, author of The Invention of Murder. Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was a number one best seller and a winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.