Iraïs : roman vécu / by Carina Jacqueline M---.

Nubiana : Tip. Sorelle Nessuno, 1912.

184 pages ; 19 cm

BEIN 2024 316: Autograph of M. Irene Lowry.

The imprint is fictitious.

The novel has been attributed to Edward Heron-Allen, who is said to have based the story on the lives of Natalie Barney, Renée Vivien and their friends. Eleven years later, Heron-Allen produced another book about homosexuality, "The Cheetah Girl", under the pseudonym, Christopher Blayre. In 1934, Heron-Allen produced "Some Women of the University" again under the spurious publisher and place of publication, Nubiana: Sorelle Nessuno. Heron-Allen was a solicitor and a distinguished linguist. He became interested in violin making and wrote a book on the subject that remained in print over a hundred years. He published a literal translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in 1898, producing revisions through 1908. Heron-Allen's study of Foraminifera, marine planktons, led to his becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1919.

While attending a Catholic boarding school, Carina, an orphan, forms romantic relationships with other students but also with an older woman, Gabrielle. Through Gabrielle, Carina meets Iraïs and falls deeply in love. Their love is strained by Iraïs' frequent absences. Finally Carina returns to London, determined to forget Iraïs.

English

February 15, 2024