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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Full of urgent questions about individual and collective freedoms, and the writing of history...Compellingly real.

A tale of courage and survival, richly imagined and full of pitch-perfect period detail and sly wit.

A complex, thought-provoking tale, and a must-read for anyone seeking to explore the intersections of love, resistance, and the triumph of the human spirit.

Blunt, raw and unapologetically sexual, Radical Love is a story of human flaws, the dangers of both honesty and deception, and idealism in the face of cruel reality.

Holding up a lens to a 19th century existence while asking uncomfortable questions of our own times, it explores how a high price must be paid in the pursuit of love.

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.

'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&rsquo; SIR IAN MCKELLAN 
 
&lsquo;An imaginative, layered, clever story&rsquo; 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. 
 
&lsquo;One of the boldest novelistic explorations of desire I have read in some time&rsquo; KEIRAN GODDARD 
 
&lsquo;Compellingly real&rsquo; DAILY MAIL

The Dangerous Kingdom of Love

Witty, original and clever, this tale of Jacobean power and lust is a blast.

The Times, Best Historical Fiction Novels

Expect gritty language and much enjoyment from this clever and unusual novel.

An entertaining and often very funny read with something to say about both the love of power and the power of love.

'Witty, original and clever, this tale of Jacobean power and lust is a blast' THE TIMES, Best Historical Fiction of the Year 
 
Francis Bacon, philosopher, politician, writer, is an outsider at the court of King James I. He is clever but not aristocratic, has ambition but no money. So when his political enemies form a deadly alliance against him, centred around the King's poisonous lover Robert Carr, Bacon has no choice but to fight for his survival. 
 
Together with the neglected Queen, Bacon resolves to find a beguiling young man who can supplant Carr in the King's bed. But as Bacon soon discovers, desire is not something that can be controlled. 
 
Bold, irreverent and utterly original, The Dangerous Kingdom of Love is a darkly witty satire about power, and a moving queer love story that resonates through time. 
 
'An entertaining and very funny read with something to say about both the love of power and the power of love' SUNDAY TIMES 
 
'Brilliant ... Like Wolf Hall meets Succession ... Scandalous, politically perceptive and unexpectedly heartfelt' APPLE

Shortlisted for the Polari Book Prize for LGBTQ+ Fiction

The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle

1764: Two brothers are sent off on a Grand Tour of Europe to meet People of Quality. Instead they meet the man who will destroy everything.

Most so-called comic novels these days barely raise a smirk. Enter Neil Blackmore to show us all how it's done with his hugely entertaining romp through 18th-century Europe. The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle is a novel for which the word "rollicking" might have been invented ... From the start, Benjamin's voice is a delight ... Blackmore draws clear parallels between the social and financial disparities of the 18th century and today ... The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle is the kind of novel that a reader can sink into, delighting in the merriment of the prose and the eccentricity of the protagonists. But it's not just played for laughs: it's also an insightful study into a period of history often overlooked in fiction.

Seductive, decadent, cruel and utterly thrilling - just like Horace Lavelle himself. This is The Talented Mr Ripley for the twenty-first century.

I gorged myself with wicked glee on Horace Lavelle, and his scandalous joyride through society. Thrillingly cruel, heartbreakingly tender and altogether exhilarating; don't believe a word Lavelle says but relish every one of them.

Wildly entertaining and painfully heartbreaking ... a surprisingly timeless journey of self-discovery and the queer experience. Neil Blackmore writes with a fizzy wit that bounds his characters off the page and yet a gentle tenderness that may break your heart.

A dark and sexy whirl across the Continent on a Grand Tour like no other. Under the spell of the dangerous, delicious Horace Lavelle, every Enlightenment certainty is undone, every taboo is broken and every hypocrisy is wildly and thoroughly trampled.

Alix Christie, author of 'Gutenberg's Apprentice'

Sexy, smart, funny, dark. Get ready for the intoxicating Mr Lavelle!

Anna Mazzola, author of 'The Story Keeper'

Blackmore's seductive tale of two brothers who fall in with a mysterious stranger while on a Grand Tour of 18th century Europe fizzes with wit and invention.

[A]n enjoyable dip into decadence.

Neil Blackmore's third novel delves into how a person can be blown open and changed forever by the intoxication of love and sexual desire, however brief. Meeting Lavelle is both a blessing and a curse for Benjamin, but it forces him to live a more honest life.

Neil Blackmore writes with a fizzy wit that bounds his characters off the page

__________________________ 
'Seductive, decadent, cruel and utterly thrilling - just like Horace Lavelle himself. This is The Talented Mr Ripley for the twenty-first century.' Emma Flint, author of Little Deaths 
 
'An enjoyable dip into decadence.' Observer 
__________________________ 
Brothers Benjamin and Edgar have so far led a quiet life, but change is afoot as they enter a world of glorious sights and People of Quality on their Grand Tour of Europe. But a trunk full of powdered silver wigs and matching suits isn't enough to embed them into high society. 
 
As Edgar clings on to conventions, Benjamin pushes against them. And when the charming, seductive Horace Lavelle promises Benjamin a real adventure, it's only a matter of time before chaos and love ensue. 
__________________________ 
'A fizzing, seductive queer romance.' i Paper 
 
'Wildly entertaining and painfully heartbreaking ... Neil Blackmore writes with a fizzy wit that bounds his characters off the page.' Ben Aldridge

Neil Blackmore

I adored this novel. It is razor-sharp and deeply unsettling while being endlessly entertaining. A triumph.

Jennie Godfrey, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS

A delicious, literary feast. A wickedly funny and sharply relevant novel of duplicity and betrayal with a glittering cast of literary greats.

A masterful novel, Objects of Desire is utterly irresistible; it’s dark and wickedly fun. One of my favourite books of the year so far.

Blackmore writes with rich intensity, he never fails to excite the senses.

This masterful novel is a biting, unflinching study of art and deceit – and of what it means to create, to love and, indeed, to live. In this story, which recreates with vicious wit the 20th-century literary scene, Neil Blackmore has achieved his best work yet.

A blisteringly sharp, edgy, and diabolical romp through the gay literary scene of the mid-twentieth century, OBJECTS OF DESIRE pulls no punches in its portrayal of cultural darlings, nor in its dark insights into the human heart. Hugo Hunter is one of the best antiheroes I've read in ages, as mercenary as Tom Ripley and as seductive as Dorian Gray. Blackmore's settings - whether it be postwar London, 1960s Hollywood or AIDS-era New York - are so fully realized that I often found myself losing my grip on where real history ended and the fiction began. This book is a true tour de force - I'm so very glad it exists, although in solidarity with its protagonist, I can't help but be deeply jealous that I didn't write it.

Objects of Desire’s big soundtrack is all betrayal, plot twists and rivalry – but its power lies in Blackmore’s quiet glimpses of grief and the destructive, deep sadness of shame

Anthony Shapland, author of A Room Above a Shop

A vicious, gossipy delight – fans of Yellowface and The Plot will relish this savage, poignant story of lies, identity and ambition.

'Razor-sharp and deeply unsettling while being endlessly entertaining. A triumph.' JENNIE GODFREY, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS 
 
'A delicious, literary feast. A wickedly funny and sharply relevant novel of duplicity and betrayal with a glittering cast of literary greats.' ANNA MAZZOLA, author of THE BOOK OF SECRETS 
 
'A masterful novel, OBJECTS OF DESIRE is utterly irresistible; it’s dark and wickedly fun. One of my favourite books of the year so far.' FLORA CARR, author of THE TOWER 
 
'A biting, unflinching study of art and deceit . . . Neil Blackmore has achieved his best work yet.' ANNIE GARTHWAITE, author of CECILY 
 
*** 
 
Hugo Hunter was the most celebrated gay novelist of the 20th century. He published two masterpieces, securing his place alongside the dazzling literary greats of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and rubbing shoulders with everyone from Truman Capote to James Baldwin, Gore Vidal and George Orwell.But after decades of fame and excess, just as New York City enters the 1980s and awakes to the coming horror of AIDS, Hugo finds himself running out of money. Out of nowhere, he receives an extraordinary lifeline: an offer from his longtime publisher. Two million dollars, for a memoir and a new novel.The money will solve all his problems – except for one thing. Hugo Hunter is an imposter. He stole both of his novels. Now, how far will he go to produce a third? 
 
At once dark, moving and deliciously vicious, OBJECTS OF DESIRE traverses the 20th century, featuring an astonishing cast of characters. It is both a colourful glimpse into the lives of the cultural elite, and a tense, gripping story of betrayal, deceit, and literary fraud.*** 
 
Praise for Neil Blackmore 
 
'An astounding story . . . I relished every page.' SIR IAN McKELLAN 
 
'One of the most original voices in historical fiction today.' THE TIMES 
 
'Compellingly real.' DAILY MAIL

Neil Blackmore

Praise for Objects of Desire

I adored this novel. It is razor-sharp and deeply unsettling while being endlessly entertaining. A triumph.

A delicious, literary feast. A wickedly funny and sharply relevant novel of duplicity and betrayal with a glittering cast of literary greats.

A masterful novel, Objects of Desire is utterly irresistible; it’s dark and wickedly fun. One of my favourite books of the year so far.

I adored this novel. It is razor-sharp and deeply unsettling while being endlessly entertaining. A triumph.

A delicious, literary feast. A wickedly funny and sharply relevant novel of duplicity and betrayal with a glittering cast of literary greats.

A masterful novel, Objects of Desire is utterly irresistible; it’s dark and wickedly fun. One of my favourite books of the year so far.

I adored this novel. It is razor-sharp and deeply unsettling while being endlessly entertaining. A triumph.

A delicious, literary feast. A wickedly funny and sharply relevant novel of duplicity and betrayal with a glittering cast of literary greats.

A masterful novel, Objects of Desire is utterly irresistible; it’s dark and wickedly fun. One of my favourite books of the year so far.

Books by Neil Blackmore

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