Radical Love

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 MCKELLENBlackmore 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 CecilyA 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 *Radical Love is both a searing portrayal of love and obsession, and breathtaking in its depiction of the brutality and hypocrisy of prejudice, all told in sharp, beautiful prose. An unforgettable book. * ELIZABETH LEE, author of Cunning Women *Utterly compelling. So beautifully written, so many twists and turns and achingly sad moments where I gasped aloud. I haven’t read a novel that’s tugged at my heartstrings as much as this since John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies. A must-read … I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come. – JOHN MARRSA page-turner – MARIANKA SWAIN * The Telegraph *Full of urgent questions about individual and collective freedoms, and the writing of history…Compellingly real. * Daily Mail *A tale of courage and survival, richly imagined and full of pitch-perfect period detail and sly wit. * The Bookseller *

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, and he has been celebrated as ‘one of the most original voices in historical fiction today’ (The Times). He lives in London.

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