''Misfortune'', is the 2005 debut novel by

Wesley Stace Wesley Stace (born 22 October 1965) is an English folk/pop singer-songwriter and author, who has used the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his legal name, he has written four novels. He is also an occasional university teacher and the cur ...

. The "Victorian" novel revolves around a cross-dressing heir/heiress. The book was one of the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

s Books of the Year and chosen by

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as one of the Ten Best Novels of 2005. It was also nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, and shortlisted for both the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. The author, better known as singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, recorded the traditional ballads and folk songs in the book on The Love Hall Tryst's 2005 album ''Songs of Misfortune''.Wesley Stace - Misfortune
"The L.A. Times praised his latest novel, Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, but for my money, his first novel, Misfortune, is his enduring page-turner. The Guardian called it a "rationalist, secular study of sexual politics, of the glory and the grief of enforced transvestism."(Claudia Marshall)

References

{{reflist 2005 novels 2005 debut novels