Explore Wesley Stace's 'Misfortune,' a Dickensian tale about a boy raised as a girl in Victorian England, examining identity, inheritance, and the courage to live authentically in a rigidly gendered world.

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From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco

Jackson: Hey Miles, I was browsing through a bookstore last weekend and came across this novel with the most peculiar cover—a woman with a mustache! It was Wesley Stace's "Misfortune." Have you heard of it?
Miles: Oh, absolutely! That book is fascinating. It's Stace's debut novel from 2005, and it's this wonderfully strange Victorian-style tale about a baby boy who's rescued from a trash heap by an eccentric nobleman and then raised as a girl.
Jackson: Wait, what? Raised as a girl? That sounds... complicated.
Miles: It is! Lord Geoffrey Loveall finds this abandoned baby and, because he's still mourning his dead sister, decides this child will be his heir—but raised as female. He names the baby Rose, and the poor kid has no idea he's actually a boy until puberty hits.
Jackson: I can't even imagine that identity crisis. So it's like a Dickensian novel but with gender identity themes?
Miles: Exactly! One reviewer described it as "what Dickens would be like if there was more gender confusion." It's got all those classic elements—the grand estate, greedy relatives circling for inheritance, family secrets—but with this modern exploration of gender and identity woven throughout.
Jackson: That's such a unique premise. How was it received when it came out?
Miles: Surprisingly well! Amazon named it one of the ten best novels of 2005, and it was nominated for several awards. What's interesting is that Stace is actually better known as the musician John Wesley Harding—he even recorded an album of the traditional ballads mentioned in the book.
Jackson: A novelist who's also a musician? That explains the lyrical quality people mention in the reviews. Let's explore how Stace uses this Victorian framework to examine something as contemporary as gender fluidity...