Imatge de l'autor

Neil Blackmore

Autor/a de The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle

7 obres 121 Membres 7 Ressenyes

Obres de Neil Blackmore

The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle (2020) 56 exemplars
The Dangerous Kingdom of Love (2021) 26 exemplars
Soho Blues (1998) 13 exemplars
Split My Heart (1989) 13 exemplars
Radical Love (2023) 9 exemplars
Der Himmel über Damaskus (2002) 3 exemplars

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Membres

Ressenyes

1809 and England is exhausted by war. The French are targeted and so are homosexuals, who are seen as beyond redemption. John Church is a radical preacher who runs a chapel in Southwark and preaches of love and freedom. Popular with the working men as well as the emancipators John makes a good living but hides a secret. He is a 'Molly' and when asks to perform same-sex weddings he gets involved even though he is breaking the law.
I really loved this book which surprised me as I was not a great fan of the previous book by Blackmore that I read! I really liked the fact that this is based on a true story and therefore gives a lot more insight into the underground world at the time. Moreover, Blakemore takes a lot of artistic licence and makes Church an unreliable narrator which heightens the story and allows for twists at the end.… (més)
 
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pluckedhighbrow | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jul 13, 2023 |
From before the first page when I read the Dramatis Personae and saw King James I & IV described as 'a sodomite and a failed intellectual' followed further on by William Shakespeare as simply 'another playwright' I knew this book was going to be one for me. Blackmore uses language that is honest and crass but felt completely appropriate to the story. An historical tale told in a modern way.

Narrated brilliantly by Sir Francis Bacon who speaks to us directly and paints himself repeatedly as an outsider in the court of King James. He is 'the cleverest man in Britain' and has many enemies plotting his downfall while Bacon himself plots to elevate his own position. He presents himself as morally superior to his aristocratic 'superiors' while simultaneously working with the queen to replace King James lover Robert Carr with one of their own - George Villiers - in order to have the king's inner ear. However trouble begins when Bacon and Villiers begin a relationship themselves and Bacon despite his better judgment falls for the boy.

The story is one of power and love. Both the power of love and the love of power and how either can elevate and corrupt. Bacon's narration is what really makes the book stand out. His realisations not only of his position and those who work against him but also his realisations of himself and how he is perceived by others. A great read.
… (més)
 
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rosienotrose | Jul 11, 2023 |
I read Blackmore’s previous novel The Dangerous Kingdom of Love back in 2021 so when I saw this review copy on NetGalley I was very exciting to see what new story was waiting for me.

Here Blackmore takes us to the early 1800s London and the life of John Church. An orphan, a preacher and a sodomite.

By day, Church preaches the transformative effect of radical love to all those who attend his service, but at night he crosses over the river to attend mollie houses on Vere street where drag queens sit alongside serving boys and aristocracy in a unique club where everyone is equalled. It is here that Church begins performing 'marriages' between men. First as a bit of a frivolous attraction requested by Mrs Cook who runs the mollie house and then for a more serious reason... for why shouldn't men be allowed to marry other men. Is this not the perfect example of the radical love he preaches in his sermons?

Into this story arrives Ned, part of a group of African activist abolitionists who attends his chapel and as their relationship develops Church falls obsessively in love with Ned and the worlds they might inhabit together.

This is a stunning historical fiction based on real people and legal cases from the time. The book kept me engaged the whole way through. I love the way Blackmore's uses first person narrative and speaks directly to the reader so we feel very much brought into the fold of John Churches' life while at the same time still managing to keep the story alive and interesting. But Blackmore doesn't shy away from the harder and crueller aspects of Churches’ life and the times he and the other characters are living through while also managing to connect it to present day attitudes and prejudices.

This is a masterclass in storytelling and how to make history relevant while not shying away from the actions of the past and their ongoing affects on our modern society.

Thank you so much to Hutch Heinemann and to NetGalley for sending me this ARC for an honest review.
… (més)
 
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rosienotrose | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jul 11, 2023 |
If I pick another duff book this month, I'm going to give up reading and start watching boxsets instead. And this was a Christmas present!

An inferior mash-up of Call Me By Your Name and The Talented Mr Ripley, neither the novel nor the eponymous antihero live up to the many enticing adjectives lobbed at them. Mr Lavelle is far from charming, ironic and especially satirical ('Satire, Benjamin? How drunk are you?') He's just an overgrown teenager, trying to shock younger kids by using rude words. He is a complete knob, which is handy, because that's all Benjamin wants from him. (Can you guess who didn't believe that either man actually loved the other?)

In fact, the best part of this book is the beautiful cover, which - I must confess - lured me in. The historical setting is limited to men stripping off breeches and stockings instead of jeans and t shirts before they shag each other and completely ruined by the anachronistic dialogue ('moron', Mr Lavelle's favourite insult, was coined in 1910, for instance). The characters are all flimsy cliches, from the scoffing toffs to the leering 'sodomites', and the plot reads like a Victorian melodrama.

Recommended for readers seeking gay soft porn with literary pretensions - everyone else, try Brideshead Revisited instead.
… (més)
 
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AdonisGuilfoyle | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Jan 12, 2021 |

Premis

Estadístiques

Obres
7
Membres
121
Popularitat
#164,307
Valoració
½ 3.7
Ressenyes
7
ISBN
20
Llengües
2

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