- Table View
- List View
The Scapegoat
by Jocelyn BrookeWhen Duncan Cameron’s mother dies, he is sent to live with his Uncle Gerald on a remote farm in Kent. What follows is a hypnotic tale of psychological suspense as this boy on the cusp of manhood enters his only living relative’s ultra-masculine world of; a dark, erotically charged landscape in an England teetering on the brink of the Second World War.Originally published in 1948, The Scapegoat was Jocelyn Brooke’s first novel and, as with many of his other works, occupies a fascinating space between fiction and autobiography. Described by novelist Peter Cameron as ‘almost unbelievably subversive and kinky’, this unjustly neglected classic of gay fiction offers a quiet depiction of a childhood adrift in silence and despair, and a beautifully wrought exploration of masculinity.“He is subtle as the devil” - John Betjeman“Jocelyn Brooke is a great writer. . . . If you care enough for literature, seek out The Scapegoat” - Elizabeth Bowen“It could not have been written more delicately or sensitively” - Sean O'Faolian“Exceptionally well-written”- Desmond MacCarthy
The Dog at Clambercrown
by Jocelyn BrookeThe Dog at Clambercrown takes its name from a mysterious pub - seductive and frightening, never visited, only heard of – that fascinates Brooke’s child narrator in this beautiful and utterly original work of autobiographical fiction.Both a journey through Europe and a return to the forbidden kingdoms of a Kentish childhood, the novel interweaves past and present as Brooke, responding to the magical potency of “Abroad”, summons the obsessions and terrors of his youth, and conjures an almost pagan vision of the English countryside – even as he sits down to tea with the Sicilian mafia.First published in 1955, The Dog at Clambercrown epitomises what Anthony Powell termed as Brooke’s unique genre of “reminiscence lightly touched with fiction”. Disarmingly clever, deliciously opinionated and irrepressibly amusing, this neglected classic of gay literature is ripe for rediscovery.‘One of the most interesting and talented of contemporary writers’ – Anthony Powell‘He is subtle as the devil’ – John Betjeman‘Here is a writer possessed by the magic—the voodoo—of childhood’ – New Statesman
The Orchid Trilogy: The Military Orchid, A Mine of Serpents, The Goose Cathedral
by Jocelyn BrookeA disarming, lyrical hybrid of fiction and autobiography, this forgotten masterpiece of post-war English fiction follows a small boy through his First World War childhood and teenage years on the Kentish coast, then into the army and frontline service in the Second World War. Obsessed by his strange twin passions for orchids and for fireworks, the author-narrator paints a haunting portrait of a childhood and adulthood interleaved with one another in a near-mystical rural idyll. Defined by his unspoken homosexuality, the books capture the unfolding of a melancholy, often painfully sensitive male consciousness.First published in the late 1940s as three separate but interlinked volumes – “The Military Orchid”; “A Mine of Serpents” and “The Goose Cathedral” – The Orchid Trilogy conjures up a rapturous, fantastical portrait of England at war and peace in the 20th century. Witty, subtle and deceptively simple, this unjustly neglected classic that has yet to be surpassed in its exploration of the magical world of childhood.One of those too-rare books whose enjoyability makes it seem too short – Elizabeth BowenIt is a kind of collage of sharply drawn bits of real life, excellently described and artistically arranged – Stephen SpenderReminiscence and reflection and description are woven together to make a curious and fascinating tapestry – David CecilMr. Brooke's finely shaped prose, his wit, percipience, and liveliness in the description of people, places, and states of mind are a rare delight – The ScotsmanA sad, funny, densely detailed yet continuously readable experience – The ObserverOne of the most exciting creative artists of our time and one who will consistently evade all the literary categories – John Pudney
Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century
by Graham RobbA perceptive, vivid and sometimes startling re-evaluation of homosexuality in the Victorian era
Out of the Blue
by Sophie CameronSophie Cameron's Out of the Blue is a story of love and acceptance and finding your place in this world, as angels drop out of another. When angels start falling from the sky, it seems like the world is ending. But for Jaya the world ended when her mother died, two weeks before the first angel fell. Smashing down to earth at extraordinary speeds, wings bent, faces contorted, not a single angel has survived and, as the world goes angel crazy, Jaya's father uproots the family to Edinburgh, intent on catching one alive. But Jaya can't stand his obsession and, struggling to make sense of her mother's sudden death and her own role on that fateful day, she's determined to stay out of it. Then something extraordinary happens: an angel lands right at Jaya’s feet, and it’s alive . . . Set against the backdrop of the frenzied Edinburgh festival, Out of the Blue tackles questions of grief and guilt and fear over who we really are.
Been Here All Along
by Sandy HallGideon always has a plan. His plans include running for class president, becoming head of the yearbook committee and having his choice of colleges. They do not include falling head over heels for his best friend and next-door neighbour, Kyle. It's a distraction. It's pointless, as Kyle is already dating the gorgeous and popular head cheerleader, Ruby. And Gideon doesn't know what to do . . .Kyle finally feels like he has a handle on life. He has a wonderful girlfriend, a best friend willing to debate the finer points of Lord of the Rings, and social acceptance as captain of the basketball team. Then, both Ruby and Gideon start acting really weird, just as his spot on the team is threatened, and Kyle can't quite figure out what he did wrong . . .
Pages for Her: A Novel
by Sylvia Brownrigg'A complex portrait of two women's sexuality . . . an absolute pleasure' Alice SeboldFlannery, a writer with one well-known rather racy book to her name, is, by her own admission, in a situation she never thought she'd be: married to a man who overshadows her and defined by her primary relationships as wife and mother. When Flannery is invited to a writers' conference she sees a chance to return to a world she knew well. And then she recognizes the name of the chair of the event: Anne Arden. Suddenly Flannery is thrown back twenty years to her eighteen-year-old self and the most intense love affair of her entire life. On the other side of the world Anne is travelling for work. Recently out of a decades-long partnership, she feels adrift, unsettled. When a friend asks her to chair an event at a writers' conference she says yes and a couple of months later, on the same campus where they met and fell in love, Anne and Flannery are reunited. Though their lives have taken them in different and unexpected directions, the pull between them proves irresistible. Elegant, clever, witty and sensual, Sylvia Brownrigg's Pages for Her is a novel about love, memory and what it is to be a woman, a wife, and a mother.
No Holding Back: A Swoon Novel (Dodge Cove Trilogy #18)
by Kate EvangelistaEveryone knows that Nathan is in love with his best friend, Preston...Everyone except Preston. Nathan has always accepted that Preston was too focused on his swim training to worry about love. But Preston is heading off to train for the Olympics soon, so if Nathan wants his chance at love, he has to speak up now. But saying "I love you" is surprisingly difficult, even for someone as confident as Nathan. Maybe a whirlwind vacation in Europe could help? But . . . what if it doesn't work out and he loses the best friend he's ever had?
First Kisses and Other Misfortunes (Swoon Novels #9)
by Kimberly KaraliusTwo boys discover that true love is harder than it looks, even in the charming town of Grimbaud, in this lovely novella from the author of Love Fortunes and Other Disasters.Nico is worried. Again. After freeing Martin from the illegal love charms of his evil ex-girlfriend, Nico was sure that their love would be the perfect romance he'd been waiting for. But it's been months and Nico's still waiting for his first kiss. Between Martin's dedication to student government and Nico's responsibilities at his family's tourism business, there's been no time for romance or kisses. Fortunately, the Canal Festival is coming up and like all Grimbaud events, it will befilled with romance...especially the Water Parade, Nico's favorite part. And this year, Nico will be the captain of his own small boat! It's the perfect opportunity for a romantic (and hopefully kiss-filled) date with his boyfriend. There's just one small problem: Martin is afraid of drowning. Will Nico's dreams of a romantic first kiss be sunk before they are even launched?
Christodora
by Tim Murphy'An engrossing and inspiring story of loss, love and hope, set against a backdrop of art, activism and addiction.' ObserverThe Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbour, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly's and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, the couple's adopted son, Mateo, grows to appreciate the opportunities for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers. As the junkies and protestors of the 1980s give way to the hipsters of the 2000s and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020s, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them. Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.
Fathers and Sons
by Howard Cunnell‘There is so much aching love in this book, such pain and beauty. Behold, and rejoice.’ – Tim Winton, author of CloudstreetWas he thinking, do I have to be this kind of boy to survive? Is this what being a boy is?As a boy growing up on the south coast of England, Howard Cunnell’s sense of self was dominated by his father’s absence. Now, years later, he is a father, and his daughter is becoming his son.Starting with his own childhood in the Sussex beachlands, Howard tells the story of the years of self-destruction that defined his young adulthood and the escape he found in reading and the natural world. Still he felt compelled to destroy the relationships that mattered to him.Saved by love and responsibility, Cunnell charts his journey from anger to compassion, as his daughter Jay realizes he is a boy, and a son.Most of all, this is a story about love – its necessity and fragility, and its unequalled capacity to enable us to be who we are.Deeply thoughtful, searingly honest and exquisitely lyrical, Fathers and Sons is an exploration of fatherhood, masculinity, authenticity and family.
Selection Day: Netflix Tie-in Edition
by Aravind AdigaSelection Day is a captivating, witty novel by the Man Booker Prize winning author of The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga.'The most exciting novelist writing in English today' A. N. WilsonOne of the New York Times “100 Notable Books of 2017"Manjunath Kumar is fourteen. He knows he is good at cricket - if not as good as his elder brother Radha. He knows that he fears and resents his domineering and cricket-obsessed father, admires his brilliantly talented sibling and is fascinated by the world of CSI and by curious and interesting scientific facts. But there are many things, about himself and about the world, that he doesn't know . . . Sometimes it seems as though everyone around him has a clear idea of who Manju should be, except Manju himself.When Manju begins to get to know Radha's great rival, a boy as privileged and confident as Manju is not, everything in Manju's world begins to change and he is faced with decisions that will challenge both his sense of self and of the world around him . . .
Gallows Drop (Kate Daniels #6)
by Mari HannahGallows Drop is Maria Hannah's sixth gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels. At dawn on a lonely stretch of road, a body is found hanging from an ancient gallows the morning after a country show. Hours earlier, DCI Kate Daniels had seen the victim alive. With her leave period imminent, she's forced to step aside when DCI James Atkins is called in to investigate. There's bad blood between them. When Kate discovers that Atkins' daughter was an eyewitness to a fight involving the victim, the two detectives lock horns and he's bumped off the case. It's the trigger for a vicious attack on Kate, exposing a secret she's kept hidden for years and unearthing an even darker one. Shaken but undeterred, Kate sets out to solve a case that has shocked a close-knit village community. As suspects emerge, she uncovers a curious historical connection with a hangman, a culture of systematic bullying, a web of deceit and a deep-seated psychosis, any one of which could be motive for murder.
We are Michael Field
by Emma DonoghueIn this profile, Emma Donoghue tells the story of two eccentric Victorian spinsters: Katherine Bradley (1846-1914) and her niece Edith Cooper (1862-1913); poets and lovers, who wrote together under the name of Michael Field. They wrote eleven volumes of poetry and thirty historical tragedies, but perhaps their best work - richest in emotional honesty and wit - was the diary that the two women shared for a quarter of a century, and these unpublished journals and letters form the basis for the groundbreaking We are Michael Field.The Michaels lived in a contradictory world of inherited wealth and terrible illness, silly nicknames and religious crises. They preferred men to women, and yet their greatest devotion was saved for their dog. Snobbish, arrogant eccentrics who faced bereavement and death with great courage, the Michaels never lost their appetite for life or their passion for each other.
Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture, 1668-1801
by Emma DonoghuePassions Between Women looks at stories of lesbian desires, acts and identities from the Restoration to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Far from being invisible, the figure of the woman who felt passion for women in this period was a subject of confusion and contradiction: she could be put in a freak show as a 'hermaphrodite', denounced as a 'tribade' or 'lesbian', revered as a 'romantic friend', jailed as a 'female husband' or gossiped about as a 'woman-lover', 'tommy' or 'Sapphist'. Through an examination of a wealth of new medical, legal and erotic source material, together with re-readings of classics of English literature, Emma Donoghue uncovers the astonishing range of lesbian and bisexual identities described in British texts between 1668 and 1801. Female pirates and spiritual mentors, chambermaids and queens, poets and prostitutes, country idylls and whipping clubs all take their place in an intriguing panorama of lesbian lives and loves.'Controversial, erotic and radical, Emma Donoghue's lesbian voyage of exploration outlines an astonishing spectrum of gender rebellion which creates a new map of eighteenth-century sexual territories and identities.' Patricia Duncker
Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature
by Emma DonoghueLove between women crops up throughout literature: from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Charlotte Brontë, Dickens, Agatha Christie, and many more. In Inseparable Emma Donoghue examines how desire between women in literature has been portrayed, from schoolgirls and vampires to runaway wives, from cross-dressing knights to contemporary murder stories. Donoghue looks at the work of those writers who have addressed the ‘unspeakable subject’, examining whether such desire between women is freakish or omnipresent, holy or evil, heart-warming or ridiculous as she excavates a long-obscured tradition of female friendship, one that is surprisingly central to our cultural history. A revelation of a centuries-old literary tradition – brilliant, amusing, and until now, deliberately overlooked.
Stir-Fry
by Emma DonoghueSeventeen and sure of nothing, Maria has left her parents' small-town grocery for university life in Dublin. An ad in the Student Union-"2 women seek flatmate. No bigots."-leads Maria to a home with warm Ruth and wickedly funny Jael, students who are older and more fascinating than she'd expected. A poignant, funny, and sharply insightful coming-of-age story, Emma Donogue's Stir-Fry is a lesbian novel that explores the conundrum of desire arising in the midst of friendship and probes feminist ideas of sisterhood and nonpossessiveness.
Killing for Keeps: A Kate Daniels Mystery (Kate Daniels #5)
by Mari HannahKilling for Keeps is Maria Hannah's fifth gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels. It's in the blood . . .Two brothers from the same criminal family die within hours of each other, five miles apart, one on the edge of a Newcastle industrial estate, the other in a busy A&E department of a local hospital, unseen by the triage team. Both victims have suffered horrific injuries. Who wanted them dead? Will they kill again? Investigating these brutal and bloody killings leads DCI Kate Daniels to break some rules, putting her career as well as her life on the line. As the body count rises in the worst torture case Northumbria Police has ever seen, the focus of the enquiry switches, first to Glasgow and then to Europe ending in a confrontation with a dangerous offender hell-bent on revenge.
Monument to Murder (Kate Daniels #4)
by Mari HannahMonument to Murder is Maria Hannah's fourth gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels. He selects. They die . . . When skeletal remains are found beneath the fortified walls of an ancient castle on Northumberland's rugged coastline, DCI Kate Daniels calls on a forensic anthropologist to help identify the corpse. Meanwhile, newly widowed prison psychologist Emily McCann finds herself drawn into the fantasy of convicted sex offender, Walter Fearon. As his mind games become more and more intense, is it possible that Daniels' case has something to do with his murderous past? With his release imminent, what exactly does he have in mind for Emily? As Daniels encounters dead end after dead end and the body count rises, it soon becomes apparent that someone is hiding more than one deadly secret . . .
Woes of the True Policeman
by Roberto BolañoCrushed by a devastating scandal, university professor Óscar Amalfitano flees Barcelona for Santa Teresa – a Mexican city close to the US border. In this sprawling town, where women are being killed in staggering numbers, Amalfitano begins an affair with Castillo, a young forger of Larry Rivers paintings, while his daughter, Rosa, reeling from the weight of his secrets, seeks solace in a romance of her own. Featuring characters and stories from The Savage Detectives and 2666, Roberto Bolaño’s Woes of the True Policeman explores the power of art, memory, and desire – and marks the culmination of one of the great careers of world literature.
Pages for You: A Novel
by Sylvia Brownrigg‘A love letter written for a lost lover . . . mesmerizing’ Helen Dunmore, The TimesWhen Flannery Jansen arrives at university, she is totally unprepared for an encounter that will rock her existence. But when she comes across Anne Arden in a local diner, Flannery falls dramatically and desperately in love. Flannery is quickly embarrassed in the face of the older woman’s poise and sophistication, and under the gaze of those impossible green eyes, but slowly their paths intertwine, and soon Flannery becomes Anne’s eager student in life and love.Pages for You is the story of the beginning, blossoming and falling apart of that delirious love affair.
Deadly Deceit (Kate Daniels #3)
by Mari HannahDeadly Deceit is Mari Hannah's third gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels. Four a.m. on a wet stretch of the A1 and a driver skids out of control. Quick on the scene, Senior Investigating Officer Kate Daniels and partner DS Hank Gormley are presented with a horrifying image of carnage and mayhem that quickly becomes one of the worst road traffic accidents in Northumberland’s history. But as the casualties mount up, they soon realize that not all deaths were as a result of the accident . . . On the other side of town a house goes up in flames, turning its two inhabitants into charred corpses. Seemingly unconnected with the traffic accident, Kate sets about investigating both incidences separately. But it soon becomes apparent that all is not what it seems, and Kate and her colleagues are always one step behind a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
All the Invisible Things
by Orlagh CollinsA warm, witty, important story about being a young woman today, and what it's like to find a real connection amid all the noise. Perfect for fans of Holly Bourne and Laura Steven's The Exact Opposite of Okay. With Pez, the days felt endless – cycling, climbing trees, sucking sour sweets till our tongues burned. I'd give anything to be that girl again.For four years Vetty Lake has been keeping her heart in hiding. Since her mum died and her family moved out of London it's felt so much safer not to tell people how she really feels. She's never even told anyone she's attracted to girls as well as boys.But now Vetty's seventeen and coming back to London she's determined to start living out loud. She's convinced that reconnecting with her childhood best friend Pez is the key. She was always fearless around him.But when she sees Pez again, he's different. Guarded. It's like their special connection never existed. And suddenly Vetty's sure he's been hiding too…
Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars
by Stephen BourneIn this astonishing new history of wartime Britain, historian Stephen Bourne unearths the fascinating stories of the gay men who served in the armed forces and at home, and brings to light the great unheralded contribution they made to the war effort. Fighting Proud weaves together the remarkable lives of these men, from RAF hero Ian Gleed – a Flying Ace twice honoured for bravery by King George VI – to the infantry officers serving in the trenches on the Western Front in WWI - many of whom led the charges into machine-gun fire only to find themselves court-martialled after the war for indecent behaviour. Behind the lines, Alan Turing's work on breaking the 'enigma machine' and subsequent persecution contrasts with the many stories of love and courage in Blitzed-out London, with new wartime diaries and letters unearthed for the first time. Bourne tells the bitterly sad story of Ivor Novello, who wrote the WWI anthem 'Keep the Home Fires Burning', and the crucial work of Noel Coward - who was hated by Hitler for his work entertaining the troops. Fighting Proud also includes a wealth of long-suppressed wartime photography subsequently ignored by mainstream historians. This book is a monument to the bravery, sacrifice and honour shown by a persecuted minority, who contributed during Britain's hour of need.
The Way Out: A History of Homosexuality in Modern Britain (International Library of Twentieth Century History)
by Sebastian BuckleIn 1957, there were over a thousand men in prison for 'homosexual offences'. A little over half a century later, homosexuality is an active part of the mainstream. Homosexuality has a public profile – on TV, in film and in literature and popular culture. When did today's fairly open discourse on homosexuality begin? Sebastian Buckle argues that homosexuality as a public identity began after the Second World War, on the release of the Wolfenden Report which recommended gay sex be decriminalised, and tells the story of homosexuality in the public eye. Buckle takes us through early images of homosexuality in the 1950s, the founding of the Gay Liberation Front, Section 28 and community radicalism under Margaret Thatcher's government, the AIDs crisis of the 1980s, the expanding musical and cultural influence of gay subcultures and the resulting partial acceptance into the mainstream of queer identities. The result is a complex and nuanced history of gay movements, society and the media, and a fresh look at how the struggle for acceptance and equality has been fought.