Customer Reviews

The Link

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Since Amazon didn't post an editorial review, here's the description from the back of the book to help you decide if this book is for you: "The bizarre and licentious life of James Steede, a young aronet, unfolds within a stunning portrayal of Victorian society and among a group of colorful and vivid characters, moving from Public School and great estates in England to lurid bars and brothels of Mexico's West Coast, Australia's rugged gold fields and, finally, to Sessions Court at Westminster. It is when James Steede meets another man who totally and uncannily resembles him that the story takes a fantastic and dramatic turn which moves with terror and surprise to an unforgettable climax. what is the "link"? What is the dark mystery behind this sinister relationship between two men whose identities are exchanged and whose fate and fortune depend upon the exchange? The Link is a spell-binding novel and a raw, bold revelation of the intricacies and strange variations of human relationships."

this was a gem I found among many trashy books in a 2nd hand book exchange. It is a compassionate story about a gay man in the early 19th century, a fascinating study --with compelling story thrown in as hook and bait--of gay sensibilities as imagined in an earlier epoch. the cruelty along with pervasiveness of closeted homosexual behavior in English public schools and in Australian female-deprived society....as imagined and researched by a novelist of extraordinary sensibility and intelligence.