Welcome to England, 1809. London is a violent, intolerant city, exhausted by years of war, beset by soaring prices and political tensions. By day, John Church preaches on the radical possibilities of love to a multicultural, working-class congregation in Southwark. But by night, he crosses the river to the secret and glamorous world of a gay molly house on Vere Street, where ordinary men reinvent themselves as funny, flirtatious drag queens and rent boys cavort with labourers and princes alike. There, Church becomes the first minister to offer marriages between men, at enormous risk.
Everything changes when Church meets the unworldly and free-thinking Ned, part of a group of African activist abolitionists who attend his chapel. The two bond over their broken childhoods, and Church falls obsessively in love with Ned’s tender nature. In a fragile, colourful secret world under threat, Church’s love for Ned takes him to the edge of reason.
Based on the incredible 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.
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Know this of me: I was born to be Nothing, but I have turned into something.
– CHAPTER ONE
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(Penguin, 1 June 2023, e-book, 320 pages, ARC from NetGalley)
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I really enjoyed Radical Love. The book is based on real events which makes it an even more compelling read. This is well-written, intense, and heart-breaking at times. John Church is a strange character, passionate, full of rage and contradiction. I didn’t like him much but couldn’t fully dislike him either. He initially escapes unscathed when a molly house is raided and says nothing when various people he calls ‘friends’ are charged under the indecency laws. He’s a coward. But his actions are understandable, given how gay people and the ‘molly’s’ were treated in 1809. I had a good time with this.
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