 The novel has pervasive lesbian themes , concentrating on eroticism and self @-@ discovery . Waters was working on a PhD dissertation in English literature when she decided to write a story she would like to read . Employing her love for the variety of people and districts in London , she consciously chose an urban setting . As opposed to previous lesbian @-@ themed fiction she had read where the characters escape an oppressive society to live apart from it , Waters chose characters who interact with their surroundings . She has acknowledged that the book imagines a lesbian presence and history in Victorian London where none was recorded . The main character 's experiences in the theatrical profession and her perpetual motion through the city allow her to make observations on social conditions while exploring the issues of gender , sexism , and class difference . 
