Queer Georgians

Mother Clap’s famous Holborn coffee house is open to all comers, a place of companionship and community, until a tip-off leads to a midnight raid. Two women, exiled from their families, set up a utopian community in a Welsh country house. The celebrated Chevalier d’Eon, soldier, diplomat and spy, challenges a rival to a fencing match. The sweepstake is not over who will win, but over whether the Chevalier is a man or a woman. In this dazzling work of restorative history, Dr Anthony Delaney has traced the stories of people daring to challenge society’s expectations, unearthing archives and court records to reveal the tragedies and the joys of queer life three centuries ago.