Chapter Extracts

Accessed from this page is an extract of between 1,000 and 1,500 words from each of the chapters in Oscar Wilde’s Scandalous Summer, in order to give visitors to this website a taste of what to expect from the book.

Much of the text of the rest of the book is freely available to read at Google Books

The hardback edition of Oscar Wilde’s Scandalous Summer is now out of print. The paperback edition is available from good bookshops or online from Amberley and Amazon

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 1.

Chapter 1: ‘Three is company and two is none’
– A Disruptive Friendship

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 2.

Chapter 2: 'Anything is better than London'
– The Haven in Worthing

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 3.

Chapter 3: 'The beauty and grace of everything'
– Oscar Wilde and the Worthing Festivals

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 4.

Chapter 4: 'You will come, won’t you?’
– Bosie

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 5.

Chapter 5: ‘A happy, good-humoured companion’
– Alphonse

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 6.

Chapter 6: 'No-one to talk to'
– Constance

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 7.

Chapter 7: 'My play is really very funny'
– The Importance of Being Earnest

Click image to read excerpt from Chapter 8.

Chapter 8: 'Absurd and silly perjuries’
– The Dramatist in the Dock