Radical Love

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'Neil Blackmore re-imagines an astounding story of gay men in London 200 years ago and under the pain of their betrayal and injustice, he uncovers loyalty and above all, love. I relished every page.' SIR IAN MCKELLEN 'Neil Blackmore re-imagines a story of gay men in London 200 years ago and under the pain of their betrayal and injustice, he uncovers loyalty and above all, love' Ian McKellen 'An imaginative, layered, clever story' The Times London, 1809. By day, minister John Church preaches to a congregation of commonfolk in Southwark. By night, he is drawn to the secretive, alluring world of a molly house on Vere Street. There, ordinary men reinvent themselves as outrageous queens, lads on the make flirt with labourers and princes alike, and John finds himself ordaining marriages between men. When he meets the unworldly and free-thinking Ned, one of a group of African abolitionists who attend his chapel, John falls in love with Ned's tender nature and discovers how quickly desire can turn to obsession. Based on the true story of one of the most important events in queer history, Radical Love is a sensuous and prescient story about gender and sexuality, and how the most vulnerable survive in dangerous times. 'I was staggered by this book; one of the boldest novelistic explorations of desire I have read in some time' Keiran Goddard, author of Hourglass 'Compellingly real' Daily Mail

Reviews

Neil Blackmore re-imagines an astounding story of gay men in London 200 years ago and under the pain of their betrayal and injustice, he uncovers loyalty and above all, love. I relished every page. -- SIR IAN MCKELLEN
Blackmore has taken the historical facts and created an imaginative, layered, clever story that explores male desire in an intolerant time. With wit and aplomb he performed a similar trick in The Dangerous Kingdom of Love, riffing on the gay life of the polymath Francis Bacon. Radical Love confirms Blackmore as being one of the most original voices in historical fiction today. -- ANTONIA SENIOR * The Times *
I was staggered by this book; one of the boldest novelistic explorations of desire I have read in some time. Frighteningly prescient, it shines a light on the world-making possibilities of erotic transgression and the violence that so often comes in its wake. * KEIRAN GODDARD, author of Hourglass *
Forget Bridgerton. Neil Blackmore's Radical Love give us the people of Regency England and its people as they really were; brutally intolerant, scarred by slavery, marred by oppression and social injustice. Don't look for heroes here - look for life as it's really lived, people as they really are. -- ANNIE GARTHWAITE, author of Cecily
A celebration of the erotic lives of long-dead gay Londoners and a lament for past persecutions, Radical Love is a powerful story of desire flourishing amid danger. -- NICK RENNISON * The Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Neil Blackmore is the author of five novels. His work has been acclaimed for its radical redrawing of the historical fiction form and the parameters of queer historical fiction. His third novel, The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle, was shortlisted for the Polari Prize for LGBTQ+ Fiction. The Dangerous Kingdom of Love, his most recent title, was memorably described as 'like Hilary Mantel on acid' and chosen as one of The Times' Best Historical Fiction Novels. He lives in London.