The Fall of the House of Wilde

‘Emer O’Sullivan has made an indispensable contribution to Wildean literature … Compelling, informative and fascinating’ - Stephen Fry

The Fall of the House of Wilde identifies Oscar Wilde as a member of one of the most dazzling Anglo-Irish families of Victorian times and shows us how he was utterly his parents' child.

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Oscar Wilde’s father – scientist, surgeon, archaeologist, writer – was one of the most eminent men of his generation. His mother – poet, journalist, translator – hosted an influential salon in Dublin's Merrion Square. Together they were one of Victorian Ireland’s most dazzling and enlightened couples. When, in 1864, Sir William Wilde was accused of sexually assaulting a female patient, it sent shock waves through Dublin society. After his death ten years later, Jane attempted to re-establish the family in London, where Oscar burst irrepressibly upon the scene, only subsequently to fall in a trial as public as his father’s.

A brilliantly perceptive family biography, The Fall of the House of Wilde is a major repositioning of our first modern celebrity, placing Wilde in the context of his own remarkable family and more broadly within Anglo-Irish society.