Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

I am a huge fan of the Pre-Raphaelite painters. I even bought the BBC miniseries Desperate Romantics (which isn't very good although Tom Hollander is wonderful as John Ruskin). So I was squealing like a fan girl when I discovered there were two new non-fiction books about the 19th century love triangle between Effie Gray, John Ruskin and the painter John Everett Millais. I've written about the scandal before here . There is also a new move that is coming out in 2012 starring Emma Thompson. Our first book is Effie - A Victorian Scandal by Merryn Williams. I recently read a wonderful article by the author Merryn Williams in the summer 2011 issue of Herstoria Magazine. The book unfortunately hasn't been published in the States but it is available through Book Depository and Amazon.co.uk . Victorian scandals don't come much more intimate and revealing than a wife seeking an annulment from her famous husband because their marriage has not been consummated. When Effie...

In 1854, the gossip in London society was all about the collapse of art critic John Ruskin’s marriage to Effie Gray. Not even the recent war in the Crimea was as titillating a topic. Nobody could talk about anything else. The matter was the hot topic at dinner parties for months as people eagerly chewed over the details. Ladies whispered about it in the drawing rooms, while men muttered over it while sipping brandy and smoking cigars at their private clubs. It was a far cry from the happy day when Effie married Ruskin on April 10, 1848 in the drawing room of her parents’ home in Perth. The Ruskins and the Grays had known each other for years. Effie had first met Ruskin when she was twelve and he was twenty-one. When Effie attended boarding school in Stratford upon Avon, she stayed with the Ruskins’ enroute. When her younger sisters came down with scarlet fever, the Ruskins kept Effie until the contagion had passed. When Effie was almost 19, and Ruskin 28, they became reacquainted whe...