NLJ this week: The case that shocked the British establishment

Comments made in court by both prosecuting and defence counsel sound farcical now. The book shocked the class-conscious British establishment for a variety of reasons, one being Penguin’s decision to sell the book in paperback, making it widely affordable, even for the working classes.

Gibson writes: ‘The thought of such classes reading about adultery between an aristocratic woman and her working class employee was anathema to the upper middle class lawyers involved.’