This article looks into how Donoghue uses the trope of silence to reiterate lesbian history in her reimagination of the relationship between Helen Codrington and Emily Faithfull. I will argue that the public/private dichotomy we generally associate with the Victorians is disrupted during the fictionalization of the Codrington trial, as the private lives of these women are put on public display. Firstly, I will give a brief overview of Donoghue as a lesbian author and then situate her within neo-Victorian fiction. Secondly, I will provide a socio-cultural context to the Codrington divorce. Thirdly, I will examine lesbian affection in The Sealed Letter, focusing on how the author applies subtle and perceptive, rather than descriptive, language to depict queer relations in the Victorian period. I will argue that the representation of the legal struggle in contemporary media entailed a gross invasion of privacy. In an attempt to demonstrate how lesbian identity is put under social pressure I will draw attention to how the protagonist faces the threat of having her sexuality publicly exposed in the courtroom and reported in the media, an idea I will link to the public/private dichotomy.
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