Join us in welcoming Neil Blackmore, in conversation with Flora Carr, to celebrate the release of his latest novel 'Objects of Desire', a story that is both a colourful glimpse into the lives of the cultural elite, and a tense, gripping story of betrayal, deceit, and literary fraud.
Hugo Hunter was the most celebrated gay novelist of the 20th century. He published two masterpieces, securing his place alongside the dazzling literary greats of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and rubbed shoulders with everyone from Truman Capote to James Baldwin, Gore Vidal and George Orwell.
But after decades of fame and excess, just as New York City enters the 1980s and awakes to the coming horror of AIDS, Hugo finds himself running out of money. Out of nowhere, he receives an extraordinary lifeline: an offer from his longtime publisher. Two million dollars, for a memoir and a new novel.The money will solve all his problems – except for one thing. Hugo Hunter is an imposter. He stole both of his novels. Now, how far will he go to produce a third?At once dark, moving and deliciously vicious, OBJECTS OF DESIRE traverses the 20th century, featuring an astonishing cast of characters. It is both a colourful glimpse into the lives of the cultural elite, and a tense, gripping story of betrayal, deceit, and literary fraud.
Neil Blackmore is the author of five novels. His work has been acclaimed for its radical redrawing of the historical fiction form and the parameters of queer historical fiction. His third novel, The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle, was shortlisted for the Polari Prize for LGBTQ+ Fiction, and he has been celebrated as 'one of the most original voices in historical fiction today' (The Times). He lives in London.
Flora Carr was named one of 40 London Library Emerging Writers 2020/2021. She won the Vogue Talent Contest and was shortlisted for the 2018 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize, Her work has appeared in TIME Magazine, British ELLE, Radio Times, and The Observer New Review. Flora grew up in Yorkshire and currently lives in London. The Tower is her first novel.