The New Life

Discover Tom Crewe's magnificent debut novel about forbidden desire and the search for freedom in Victorian England...

Beautifully written - Graham Norton
Subtle, sexy and beautifully crafted - Sarah Waters
Lavishly imagined - Sunday Times

After a lifetime spent navigating his desires, John has finally found a man who returns his feelings. Meanwhile, Henry is convinced that his new unconventional marriage will bring freedom.

United by a shared vision, they begin work on a revolutionary book arguing for the legalisation of homosexuality.

Before it can be published however, Oscar Wilde is arrested and their daring book threatens to throw them, and all around them, into danger. How high a price are they willing to pay for a new way of living?

A very fine new writer - Kate Atkinson
I loved this book - Zadie Smith
Some of the best writing on desire I've read - Douglas Stuart
Extraordinary - Jonathan Bailey

Filled with nuance and tenderness . . . Charting the lives of men and women who inspired not only political progress but an entire new way of living and loving' Colm Tóib