Fascinating historical novel set amongst the secretive gay world of Molly houses, with a charismatic narrator in the shape of a radical pastor leading a double life.
I was genuinely startled to realise this was (loosely, at any rate) based on real people and events, albeit the character of Ned is fictional. The introduction of him as an ex-slave allows great parallels - and divergence- to be drawn between the struggles of the gay and black communities (especially at points of intersection).

Emotional, funny and filthy - another great, thought-provoking read from Neil Blackmore

This is a fascinating and excellently written novel that I was not in the right headspace to read at the time. I enjoyed it on a surface level but I plan to re-read and really take it in because in all honesty, I skimmed through it, which is not the book's fault but mine.

As a historical novel based on the true events of Vere Street Coterie (a group of men who were arrested at a Molly House on Vere Street in London during 1810 for sodomy), Radical Love follows the story of Reverend John Church, a priest who officiated same-sex marriages for men and trans women at the Molly house in the early 1800’s. We learn of John’s early life as a foundling and his journey into preaching as a ‘radical’ where love conquers all.

As someone who had heard a little about the Vere Street Coterie, I knew that this book was an absolute must read, and I was so excited when the little NetGally email came through to say I had been approved for an E-arc. I throughly enjoyed reading this book, although it has taken me a while to get through (mainly because I’ve been a busy bee behind the scenes of insta!).
Our protagonist John is one of those characters who you love and hate at the same time. He preaches for love and inclusivity and helps those at the Molly house who simply wish to live their lives like any other couple, however he is very much a manipulator, and notoriously lies and deceives others.

My only critique, which I have seen several others acknowledge, is that the ending feels rushed. The trail and ending is all wrapped up very quickly in a matter of pages, and I feel like a lot more could’ve been done - however it doesn’t necessarily ruin the ending or anything.

Overall a fabulous book which I highly recommend if you want to learn a slice of gay history in England.

Please see LoveReading link below for full review of Radical Love which has been chosen as a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month.

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.

Set in 1809 in London the Reverend John Church teaches love and acceptance from the pulpit every Sunday. What his parishioners don’t know is that every sermon they hear is really a plea for him to be accepted as a gay man, who on a Sunday evening will go and perform same-sex weddings at a Molly House.

Blackmore has based this story on an account of the real Reverend John Church, and it’s quite shocking to see the treatment that those who were identified as being gay suffered at the hands of the people and the courts.

This book is fabulous, it’s so cleverly done, and Blackmore is clearly a master craftsman of literature. I loved how he pulled me into Church’s mind and how I gained more insight into the character’s psyche as the book progresses. This book is getting all the stars from me!

This book is publishing this week and if you like smart and engaging literature then this one is for you.

Neil Blackmore’s latest novel is set in Georgian London. Radicalism is in the air- spread by seeds sown in the French Revolution. Established ideas are being questioned, slavery has been abolished, it seems like the start of a new age.
Only it’s not, the rot is still there and hatred and prejudice still prevalent. William Wilberforce, celebrated for his achievements in ending slavery still placed black dinner guests behind a screen to keep them separate from the white diners. Main character and narrator John Church has set up his own place of worship, the Obelisk, to preach tolerance in well-attended services which attracts free thinkers as well as those unimpressed by his motives. For many the limits come with any suggestion of acceptance for homosexuality and yet molly-houses thrive. John Church accepts an invitation to attend rooms above a pub where he will attempt to alleviate some of the gay shame and self-hatred by marrying any men who wish to be coupled with one another. Is he beginning a path of greater acceptance in London or is this just a step too far?
What I like very much is this reclaiming of history, of developing the true stories behind the established facts, as certainly here the novel is based upon actual events. Over the last few years this has been done very successfully by Black British writers. Paterson Joseph and his “Secret Diaries Of Charles Ignatius Sancho” (2022) and Sarah Collins’ “The Confessions Of Frannie Langton" (2019) immediately spring to mind. Neil Blackmore does this to an extent with black experience but particularly here with gay men’s stories. Tom Crewe has done similar so successfully earlier this year with “The New Life” (2023) and Blackmore attains a high standard with this.
If you don’t already know about John Church (and I didn’t) greater pleasure will be had from this book by not finding out too much beforehand, especially as in his main character the author has created a gloriously untrustworthy narrator. We can tell from the start that this is a man of contradictions and it is with great relish that these contradictions are brought to life.
This probably comes as close as a novel is going to get this year to being five stars without me actually awarding my top rating. (I don’t believe that was because the review copy I was sent was so badly formatted that it did affect my reading flow and thus some of my enjoyment, luckily the book rattles on at such a pace the effects of this were diminished) but I think with John Church so central we only see the other characters from his (sometimes) off-skew perspective which doesn’t give them as much chance to shine as I would have liked. The radical aspects come across strongly, are well balanced and the ideas very accessible (more so than Tom Crewe’s novel, actually, which is set in a repressed Victorian London of the late nineteenth century). I also feel that, Neil Blackmore is here just like a cat that toys with a mouse for just a little bit too long before going for the kill in his development of his plot. It is full of appalling hypocrisy, there’s hope and despair but above all a vivid bringing to life of a forgotten man whose attempts to find and bring love to Georgian London produce this extraordinary tale.
Radical Love will be published on 1st June 2023 by Hutchinson Heinemann. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Radical Love

I’ll start by saying this book was not the book I was expecting it to be. I imagined I’d be reading a historical gay love story.
That was not the case.
Radical love is the story of John Church, a preacher - and a gay man living in London in the early 1800’s. It’s hard to know what to mention here as I think the point to the narrative of this book is that we uncover a lot about John on the way. John is our narrator throughout the story - but his accounts are not always factual. He isn’t all he suggests. He preaches of acceptance and love at The Obelisk, his radical church in London, where he meets and falls in love with Ned.
He also attends a ‘molly house’ above a tavern in Vere Street which is I think my favourite part of the story where we get to meet real characters (the book is based on a true story) like Sally, Black eyed Leonora, The Duchess and Sweet Lips.
It’s a sad story of another time, but it wasn’t the love story I was expecting & John Church most definitely wasn’t who I was expecting.

I really enjoyed Radical Love. The book is based on real events which makes it an even more compelling read. This is well-written, intense, and heart-breaking at times. John Church is a strange character, passionate, full of rage and contradiction. I didn’t like him much but couldn’t fully dislike him either. He initially escapes unscathed when a molly house is raided and says nothing when various people he calls ‘friends’ are charged under the indecency laws. He’s a coward. But his actions are understandable, given how gay people and the ‘molly’s’ were treated in 1809. I had a good time with this.

I choose this book as an alternative to my usual murder/mystery ones and although it may not be for everybody, I did enjoy it in a weird way!! Based on a true person and events the book is told by the Rev. John Church and is set at the beginning of the 19th century. What I did think whilst reading it, was that things have not really changed in many aspects of the story albeit legislation has been modified, but we still today have poverty, racism, intolerance towards the gay and trans communities and above all else, the fundamental need to be loved which is so overwhelming in the tale. The book has its high and low moments, its crude and vile times too but it was addictive at times too. If you like historical stories especially factual ones, then this may be for you. I am glad that I read it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

Historical fiction is not usually my preferred genre, but this book was very entertaining, and I would be interested in reading more non-fiction work on this era and subject matter if it were available. The unreliable narrator was hilariously undependable, I found it really amusing how he continuously portrayed himself as a good Christian man whereas the reality was that he was manipulative and disloyal, putting his own needs before others. Overall, it was a good read, however the format was difficult to read on Kindle with random numbers appearing in paragraphs which impaired the reading experience but did not diminish the enjoyment of the content.
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

LGBTQ people have, very much like Black lives, been omitted from history and it has been fantastic to see an increase in visibility of both in the last few years. Neil has contributed to those stories in his past works but this title is more hard hitting and powerful.
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 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.
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.
There are some stand out passages. In one John sees a future where men can walk hand in hand but that freedom is granted by people who feel that they should be grateful for this permission. The author mentions in his afterword that writing during the pandemic, where society is coming together to support everyone, contrasts starkly with the reaction to the AIDS epidemic and to people diagnosed.
A strong historical story that deserves to be highlighted.

Great topic and although shocking in places, I was gripped by the novel and found it fascinating. Based on historical events I believe, this will stay in my mind for a while.

The formatting on the ebook was shocking though, with numbers in the middle of sentences, which made it hard to read.

I have loved Blackmore's other books and so was excited to read this one.

Unfortunately, the formatting in my version would not display the text without numbers running throughout every few words. I have contacted NetGalley who advised me to wait a few days and download the book again which I've done with the same problem.

Am sure the book is really good but I can't review. Star rating given so I don't pull down the average on here.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC! This book was really interesting, not like anything I have read before, but also very hard to read because of the content being quite emotional and upsetting. I also struggled with the writing here and there. Overall, I did enjoy it though and I think it will be a very powerful read for many.

I found this quite hard-going. I normally read fairly quickly, but I plodded my way rather wearily through this, weighed down by some of the more didactic passages, and unenlightened by any insights in the historical and cultural aspects of the story. I am also tired of unreliable narrators and the emergence of this in relation to the Rev. Church came as no great surprise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copy.

This book is many things; beautiful in parts, crude in others - it examines humanity at it's lowest as people judged and shamed others, and also humanity at peace in love and feeling accepted by friends, families and strangers and allowed to be who they are.

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.

One of the things I like about Neil Blackmore's writing is the campiness and the highlighting of queer characters throughout history and how gay, non-binary and trans people have existed in society for a long, long time. I loved the scenes of debauchery and joy at the molly house, and how the girls (aka the Queens) were free to be who they were and love each other, and the marriages of love that took place.

I can't speak for the representation in this book, that of the trans community but also of the Black community we see in the book. We learn a little bit of the experiences of what it must have been like to be Black during this time, when the abolition of slavery was still a very recent thing but that didn't mean the Black community were treated with the respect they deserved. Through Ned, we see what his life was like as a 'thing' or a 'product' before he escaped an unhappy home, and how he struggles to hold down a job as people didn't need a reason to fire a Black person back then. I appreciated all of this in the book, but I can't say if this representation was good or not - I hope it was.

It felt rather poignant and timely to read this book and learn once again about the historical treatment of people in the queer community - how it was almost better to be proclaimed a rapist or a murderer than a sodomiser. The fear people felt in case they were found out but how this fear didn't stop people from being who they were or feeling how they felt. In today's world, transphobia and homophobia seem to be on the rise again and it's sad to see it's history repeating itself but again, all of this hatred isn't going to drown out the love people feel and share for each other.

Neil Blackmore is really good at writing slightly shady characters. Unlike his previous book's anti-hero Mr Lavelle, I didn't find John Church quite as repugnant or disagreeable but because it was obvious in the narration that he wasn't the completely good person he pretended to be, it was hard to like him - and I'm not sure I liked to hate him either. It was a strange one.

I found it kind of enjoyable but a long winded. Didnt like the protagonist even though i wanted to
Might have been true historically but was depressing

A brilliant narrative style that caught my attention from the first sentences and kept me going til the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the author for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

While reading this book I kept finding myself reminded of the diaries of Derek Jarman, losing friends and loved ones to the AIDS crisis in a world concerned with morals, where tolerance and love where reserved for the people already receiving it. It was no surprise then, when I reached the dedication at the end of the book, in remembrance of “gay men and trans people of my youth, who died in such huge numbers during the Aids crisis”.

John Church preaches the importance of love above all things in his “radical” church, yet when a relative stranger tells him that “Love must be radical”, he questions his beliefs.

For much of the story, John questions “what is a radical” and reaches a number of conclusions - the word “radical” is seemingly relative, where people who claim radical views are entirely unmoving on certain challenging opinions. People who consider themselves radical may be completely out of their depth when faced with, say, racism like Lydia (or inter-sectionalism like Ned). However perhaps the overarching question should be “what is Love”. John believes he knows the answer and makes his decisions based on that, however as he faces the consequences of his actions, he appears to not have changed his mind. (And who am I to say if he is right or wrong?)

At first I felt hardly qualified to comment on this book, but as I continued I realised how relevant the issues faced by these characters are. I don’t think I need to point out the parallels between concerned citizens burning down molly houses in the nineteenth century and attacks on queer establishments in the present day.

For someone (like me) who craves a happy ending, this book is a hard read, but it’s so beautifully written that you feel John Church’s passion and convictions and sense of hope at each twist and turn. Paris Is Burning’ told the stories of similar people in the 1980s, but ended on an optimistic note despite not knowing if things would get any better. I found the ending of Radical Love quite the opposite and while at first I thought it was overly pessimistic even though we have the hindsight to say things can get better, perhaps it serves as more of a warning. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.