Kathleen Lonsdale’s crystallography tables

When most of us think of fairy tales we think of cute characters struggling against evil only to be saved by the miraculous intervention of a strong-jawed ‘prince’ or mysterious half-relation. But as the literary critic and fabulist Marina Warner points out, in their original form, fairy tales, are always darker, scarier, and less comfortable than we think. 

The story of Kathleen Lonsdale is one that at first sight might lend itself to the fairy tale treatment.