‘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

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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 20^th 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.
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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

‘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.

‘One of the boldest novelistic explorations of desire I have read in some time’ KEIRAN GODDARD

‘Compellingly real’ DAILY MAIL

‘One of the boldest novelistic explorations of desire I have read in some time.’
KEIRAN GODDARD, author of Hourglass

‘An imaginative, layered, clever story that explores male desire in an intolerant time … Radical Love confirms Neil Blackmore as one of the most original voices in historical fiction today.’
THE TIMES

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.

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