The new life : a novel / Tom Crewe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crewe, Tom, 1989- author.

Contributor:

Tom Farinholt and Blair Edlow Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

London (England)--Social life and customs--19th century.

London (England).

Gay people--Fiction.

Gay people.

Gay men--Fiction.

Gay men.

Authors--Fiction.

Authors.

Sexual minorities--Fiction.

Sexual minorities.

Marriage--Fiction.

Marriage.

Homosexuality--Fiction.

Homosexuality.

LGBTQ+ people.

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Gay fiction.

Domestic fiction.

Novels.

Fiction.

LGBTQ+ fiction

Physical Description:

390 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Scribner hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Scribner, 2023.

Summary:

In the summer of 1894, two men collaborating on a book in defense of homosexuality, then a crime, must decide whether to continue with their project, risking social ostracism and imprisonment, when Oscar Wilde is arrested shortly before their book is to be published.

"In the summer of 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis begin writing a book arguing that what they call 'inversion,' or homosexuality, is a natural, harmless variation of human sexuality. Though they have never met, John and Henry both live in London with their wives, Catherine and Edith, and in each marriage there is a third party: John has a lover, a working class man named Frank, and Edith spends almost as much time with her friend Angelica as she does with Henry. John and Catherine have three grown daughters and a long, settled marriage, over the course of which Catherine has tried to accept her husband's sexuality and her own role in life; Henry and Edith's marriage is intended to be a revolution in itself, an intellectual partnership that dismantles the traditional understanding of what matrimony means. Shortly before the book is to be published, Oscar Wilde is arrested. John and Henry must decide whether to go on, risking social ostracism and imprisonment, or to give up the project for their own safety and the safety of the people they love. Is this the right moment to advance their cause? Is publishing bravery or foolishness? And what price is too high to pay for a new way of living?"-- Publisher's webpage.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Green fund bookplate.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Tom Farinholt and Blair Edlow Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781668000830

1668000830

OCLC:

1356475910