Radical Love

Product Information

The characters and narrative for Radical Love are taken from historical record and is a powerful reminder of past injustices, These days queer people who speak out or highlight homophobia are subjected to a verbal pillory via social media, although beatings and even murder are on the rise, but the public and media hysteria against gay people in the early 17c was horrific, as described here. Seen as subhuman sinners with no rights whatsoever, anyone accused of sodomy, whether true or not, was subjected to prison, persecution by a frenzied mob and even hanging. Set in the early 1800s, our morally grey, unreliable narrator is John Church, a sort of Reverend for a church that doesn't believe in sin or casting judgement, only love and acceptance which is a lovely thing really but the more we get to know about John, the more the reader wonders what kind of man he truly is as he omits truth, and warps things to make them go his own way - not to mention his obsessive need for love but also to control and keep the love of those who try to be close to him in a way that eventually drives everyone else away from him.

I read this in frantic bursts on x-mas eve and x-mas day and into the wee hours of the morning of boxing day, in between gift wrapping and children wrangling and in-laws managing and eating my body weight in pork, and it was the only thing keeping me sane. Welcome to England, 1809. London is a violent, intolerant city, exhausted by years of war, beset by soaring prices and political tensions. It is based on the true events of The Vere Street Coterie, where a group of gay men were arrested, and the subsequent trials. It was interesting to read it a second time, as there is so much foreshadowing throughout the whole book. Like, they're telling you what's going to happen, but on your first time through you don't realize it. Also, Francis Bacon is the most unreliable narrator! I found myself questioning almost everything he said, which I didn't really do the first time through.The Dangerous Kingdom of Love concerns one such conspiracy: specifically it’s about the ousting of Robert Carr, James I’s, established favourite, and his replacement George Villiers, a plot the book proposes was orchestrated by Francis Bacon, with the support of the Queen. Entirely plausible, given the way Bacon supported Villiers’ rise to power, and it is in this realm of historical plausibilities that book deliberately dwells. So the book that I THOUGHT I was reading for 90% of the book turns out to be totally different from the book at the end. I thought I was reading a slightly toungue in cheek schemy historical rompy kind of book told by a self effacing man who had had a bit of a tough go of it, and really should get more recognition and love. Basically, I put on my "historical drama ethics" goggles and just took him at his word. And then, and THEN we hit the last chapter, and we hear most of the book replayed through another characters perspective and it just flips the entire narrative!

I want to scream and cry and punch someone because my feelings are hurt and my heart hurts and I want to cut a bitch because Bacon is a stupid, clever man and I loved him in this book and I am sad for him and his brilliant mind and now I'm sobbing like a fool again. Ok so I was going to try for a coherent review, but honestly.... I'm neither erudite nor eloquent, so what you get are raw emotions.... put in this position while remaining completely blind as to how imbalanced and exploitative their relationship would be.John Church is an unreliable narrator. He omits truths - because he wants the reader to like him and understand his actions and also because he doesn’t want to face them himself. He is a complicated and conflicted character. We know from history what people will do to survive, even if that means trashing your tenets. Blunt, raw and unapologetically sexual, Radical Love is a story of human flaws, the dangers of both honesty and deception, and idealism I felt that some of the characters could have been a bit more fleshed out as I didn't feel as bad when the Molly house is closed and when we find out why. I think this element could have been explored a bit more to really get it to hit home. The characters were clearly researched with lots of care and attention - and they were the driving force of this story - their loves, their passions, their desires, their connections were blinding beautiful. John was complex - a foundling, cast out as a baby and now trying to fight for the rights of him and his friends. He saw beauty in the world despite how much it had hurt him, telling us stories of the past and dreaming about the future, talking to us and musing in a lyrical, poetic style that was immersive and descriptive. His voice was reflective of the time period, but still easy to understand with a level of relatability despite it being centuries ago. John was one of our heros, but he isn't a hero to many - he was flawed, obsessive, impulsive, controlling. He is the perfect example of the idea that nobody is entirely good or bad, and he creates a strange kind of kinship with the reader.