The New Life, Tom Crewe
‘A skilful analysis of Victorian sexual politics’
Tom Crewe’s compelling first novel explores the beginnings of the gay liberation movement. In 1894, the writer John Addington (based on John Addington Symonds) determines that ‘no man should live his whole life in opposition to his nature’ and invites his male lover Frank to live in his marital home. Meanwhile, the psychologist and essayist Henry Ellis (based on Havelock Ellis) embarks on an unconventional marriage to a predominantly lesbian feminist. Soon after, John and Henry strike up a correspondence and decide to co-author a book in defence of same-sex love. However, the 1895 trial of Oscar Wilde turns public opinion firmly against gay rights. Will the pair remain true to their ideals and publish – and what will the consequences be?
Crewe writes movingly about the personal cost of living ‘in the future we hope to make’. John feels great guilt at the suffering of his wife Catherine; Henry struggles to share Edith – who has ‘become everything’ to him – with her female lover Angelica; and ultimately both men face the possibility of prosecution for their book. However, the testimonies of the men interviewed by John and Henry, and the tenderness both writers experience in their own unorthodox relationships, remind us how vital it is to challenge social conventions, even if one cannot immediately achieve the hoped-for results.
Alongside its skilful analysis of Victorian sexual politics, The New Life includes some wonderful character portraits, especially of the (real-life) utopian writer Edward Carpenter, the quietly courageous Edith, the feisty Angelica and the conflicted Henry. Crewe also has a knack for beautiful descriptive language – ‘gingery, gold-tipped’ trees in autumn, Cambridge at twilight ‘spun out in silver and grey’ – which makes his prose consistently pleasurable. This is a very impressive debut, which makes me eager to read Crewe’s second novel.
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