The Fall of the House of Wilde

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 at 1 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 some ten years later, Jane attempted to re-establish the family in London, where Oscar burst irrepressibly upon the scene, only to fall in a trial as public as his father´s. A remarkable and perceptive account, The Fall of the House of Wilde is a major repositioning of our first modern celebrity, a man whose fall from grace marked the end of fin de siècle decadence.