Oooh, the Lister diaries sound absolutely fascinating, both in terms of historical detail and from a queer history perspective.

Your review is also solidifying my desire to read some Hudson-- I've been meaning to for a while. I've read a couple of similar memoirs of colonial childhoods (mostly set in India/Egypt) and there's always this very frustrating balance between "interesting historical facts about a setting I don't know much about" and "egregious racism and imperial apologism, which call into question how much the author can actually be trusted on said facts".