A beautifully curated collection of love letters throughout history. It’s an honour to read these stories through the most sacred correspondence. A triumph in nonfiction and curation - this span through lgbtq history from platonic and romantic love, friendships and heartbreaks. A joy from start to end and wonderful edition.

I recieved a ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lovely collection, and perfect to read during LGBTQ+ History Month. I really appreciated that this collection wasn't a monolith: there were letters spanning a good deal of history, many of the writers were PoC and some were transgender (or would probably identify as such nowadays), although I would personally have loved more letters brushing on transgender topics. I believe all were originally written in English, which meant they were mostly confined to English-native speakers- so Brits, and Americans, but I believe that's a feature of the archive from whcih they were gathered. I would love a collection with some translated letters, so as to get a wider sample of letters cross-culturally, but I appreciate that's an extremely tall order. I also really enjoyed the letters of 'friendship,' featured here, and would love to have seen a few more of those- but I appreciate the love letters are probably were most of the dramatics lie!

This is a wonderful addition to any queer bookshelf. It's always wonderful to have concrete reminders of the old maxim, "we have always been here," and I love the emotional range in this connection- from domestic conversations (the letter between a gay couple which mentioned little things like one throwing out the other's worn shirt and doing his laundry was one of my favourites) to some extremely dramatic trysts and love triangles.. I also appreciated that many of the writers were slightly underdiscussed, or viewed from a slightly new angle- e.g. the Vita Sackville-West letter written not to Woolf but to another lover. It was also exciting to come across a George Sands letter, having just finished Briefly, A Delicious Life. And I defintiley enjoyed that they weren't all writers- of course, writers tend to write many letters and write dramatically, and famous people tend to have their letters preserved regardless of their occupation, but it was lovely to see letters from those who clearly didn't write for a living, and I appreciated that the collection left grammar and spelling errors intact where meaning could still be gleaned: there's clearly a real effort to paint as comprehensive a portrait of the queer community as possible here.

If I had one peeve, I would say I sometimes got lost in the introductions to each letter. Sometimes there's a lot of players to introduce- not just the people exhanging the letters, but third parties they're referring to- and this collection will waver between using surnames and forenames in these sections, which is tricky if you're just learning the names. I'd definitley reccomend a physical copy so you can flick back when you need to refresh on the names: I imagine this could get really frustrating in an audiobook. A similar point could probably be made about the little additional comments usually presented after the letters. I can't say I wish they weren't there, because many were fascinating, but because they were often so disjointed from the collection they did tend to break my flow a little, and I find I can't remember any of them now. Where they weren't directly relevant to the letters they came after, I think I'd rather have them expunged, or placed at the back, and have one or two letters included in their place, but that might just be personal preference.

All in all this is a wonderful collection, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading more about queer history but intimidated by historical tomes. This is readable, relatable, thought-provoking, and sorely needed right now.

This is a fine collection. While its focus is on non-straight relationships, it primarily explores the profound connections people can share. It compiles from a wealth of sources, showing diversity in eras, formats and circumstances. It's a nice thing to exist, and lovely that the effort has gone into gathering so many experiences.

However, the letters themselves are not all that interesting. The introductory paragraphs before each text, which offer context for the individuals involved and their situation at the time of writing, are far more insightful. Most of the letters (and other writings, such as poems) rely heavily on their introductions to make any sense to a new reader.

A key element of letters is that they are a tiny snapshot of a person's life. For that, they are intriguing. Yet such short-form work relies heavily upon the shared understanding between the author and recipient, which makes the work impactful to them but weak to anyone else.

While there is a limit to what can be gained from this collection, it will, undoubtedly, be useful to some, even if just as an introduction to new figures.

This book make you feel a horde of intense emotions. This book brought me to tears as I went through each poems and letters declaring the unwavering words of love and affirmation that the very people of the LGBTQIA community from then would have have cherished to hear. Powerful!

Thank You, NetGalley, Rachel Smith and Barbara Vesey for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Reading this collection of poems and letters from the lgbtqia+ community from all times in history, was refreshing. I loved every second of it and wished that the love poured into those words could also be openly declared in their times. In OUR times as well.

Finishing this book in June seems like the perfect opportunity and I'm forever thankful for the experience.

Whether you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community, a supporter/advocate for it or just someone who believes that there is no gender in love, I think you should all read this wonderful collection of letters, stories and poems.
Within the pages lie snapshot views of same-sex love throughout history and it’s fascinating, but also heartbreaking at times. I laughed and cried many times whilst reading this book and overall I really enjoyed it.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this title in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lovely collection of letters of LGBTQ love. Taking the definition of letters and expanding it to the biggest degree possible, I believe that so many of us will be enthralled by this books. They'll make you laugh, cry and feel understood and welcome at the same time. If you're thinking about reading this collection, do it! I have no doubt in my mind you'll enjoy it and find in one of these letters a warm hug of understanding.

I cannot tell you how much I adore this collection. We are looking at letters between lovers, between friends, between exes and everything in between but they all have one thing in common: The authors of these letters are of the LGBTQIAP+ community. Dating back to Sappho, the letters, poems and musings in this collection offer us an insight what it meant to be queer all through history. The texts are charming, funny, heartfelt and sad and this glimpse into the lives of these people made me tear up multiple times. These texts were clearly carefully chosen and the consideration of each and every one of them has created a whole masterpiece.

Even if you don't love non-fiction - read this.

"For a community which has lived too long with shame and oppression, this is a wonderful snapshot of a timeless and continuing presence..."

This collection of letters not only told beautiful love stories through the ages, but shared important historical context to give me a deeper insight into queer love and how couples had to deal the social stigma, and even the legality, of being in a queer relationship. These letters show clearly that love is love, no matter who you are.

The fascinating backgrounds and historical context pared with the intimate insights into these relationships made me feel like I was being transported in to their world. At times I even felt like I was reading something I shouldn't be because of the intimacy of the sentiments shared between lovers.

While some of the earlier letters and poetry were slightly harder to get through, the introductions to the writers and their moment in time made their letters come alive.

I really recommend this to LGBTQ+ allies - it's one that you can easily pick up and put down and jump to the stories that you're most interested in. It's also inspired me to pick up some books by writers featured in the book, such as John Hall.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful historical accounts of LGBTQ+ people throughout history; told through letters, stories and poetry. Very interesting and emotional to read, I would recommend.

I loved this book so much!
I have previously read collections of letters such as those between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West so although part of me feels like I am intruding upon these relationships, the other half is fascinated to see them develop through their own words.
There were names and relationships I knew from this collection prior to reading and many that I did not; but their universal themes of love and longing were so poignant and powerful even today.
I think it is so important to learn more about LGBTQIA+ history and it is collections like this which make it so much more accessible for gaining such knowledge and insight into queer relationships of the past and also how they still impact in the present. I enjoyed the humour, sadness, flirtations and the mundane that makes up every relationship. Simply a wonderful collection and a perfect example of how enduring and beautiful love can be.

What a beautiful collection of letters, poems and accounts from history. Each piece of text was clearly chosen with careful consideration and placed perfectly in this anthology. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection, the addition of the small biography about each writer helped in keeping me informed as I read. This would be perfect for a gift, or just as a reminder of how beautiful love really is.

This was exactly what it said on the tin, but I would have liked more about the couples and relationships involved. There were a lot of names thrown at you in quick succession before displaying the letters, and it was easy to get lost. On the other side, it was nice to be able to easily flick to which chapter interested you, and easy to pick up and put down

An homage to LGBTQ+ love throughout history as much as it is about the here and now, this litany of letters (though looking through them sometimes seems vaguely voyeuristic) is a treasure trove of statements of unadulterated ardour, loving sentiment and heartful humour across the ages - from the writings of well-advertised gays and lesbians to titillating tidbits on the lesser-known homosexual lives of authors, artists and activists, there's lots to learn and heaps to appreciate from the time-honoured lines tended to in this title.

Thank you to NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for kindly passing on this ARC! 💫