The Stone Wall, an Autobiography

A fearless, taboo-shattering autobiography of a New England woman born in 1864, The Stone Wall confronts the damage done by silence around sex and the body. With a voice both candid and compassionate, Mary Casal recalls a spirited tomboy childhood, a mother’s punitive secrecy, and the predation and coercion she endured from trusted adults—all while discovering joy in sports, dancing, and deep, tender attachments to girls. As she comes of age, Casal challenges rigid femininity, questions Victorian moral codes, and argues for frank sex education long before it was acceptable to do so. Her story traces a double life: outwardly the cheerful, capable “good girl”; inwardly a keen observer who refuses to lie about desire, consent, and the costs of repression. Narrated with nuance by Jason Michael Mann, this landmark memoir is both historical testament and urgent contemporary read—an intimate chronicle of resilience, queer longing, and the hard-won clarity that comes from telling the whole truth at last.