The New Life
Description
*Shortlist, Debut Fiction, 2023 Nero Book Awards * The Sunday Times Novel of the Year * A Times and Guardian Book of the Year *
London, 1894. John and Henry have a vision for a new way of life. But as the Oscar Wilde trial ignites public outcry, everything they long for could be under threat.
'Beautifully written' Graham Norton
'Clever and kind... A book of wonderful generosity and compassion' Alice Winn
'Subtle, sexy and beautifully crafted' Sarah Waters
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?
'Lavishly imagined' Sunday Times
'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
'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 Tóibín
More details
Person
TOM CREWE was born in Middlesbrough in 1989. He has a PhD in nineteenth century British history from the University of Cambridge. Since 2015, he has been an editor at the London Review of Books, to which he contributes essays on politics, art, history and fiction.
The New Life is his first novel. Crewe says:
'This is the book I knew I wanted to write long before I actually wrote it. I hope it reveals to readers an unfamiliar Victorian England that will surprise and provoke, inhabited by a generation in the process of discovering the nature and limits of personal freedom, struggling to create a better world as the twentieth century comes into view.'