Muswell Press – serie

In 1951 the Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston left grey, post-war London for Greece. Settling first on the tiny island of Kalymnos, then Hydra, their plan was to live simply and focus on their writing The result is Charmian Clift's best known and most loved books, Mermaid Singing and Peel Me a Lotus. Peel Me a Lotus, the companion volume to Mermaid Singing relates their move to Hydra where they bought a house and grappled with the chaos of domestic life whilst becoming the centre of an informal bohemian community of artists and writers. That group included Leonard Cohen, who became their lodger, and his girlfriend Marianne Ihlen. Clift paints an evocative picture of the characters and sun-drenched rhythms of traditional life, long before backpackers and mass tourism descended.

In this extraordinarily compelling trans memoir, Avi, a bearish trans man and Psychology Professor, navigates sex and dating in a phallic-centric universe of men who love men. But something is missing. To become the man he aspires to be, he needs to reconnect with Talia, his hyper-feminine straight female past, and invite her back in.This memoir explores what it means to come home to oneself with brutal honesty, humour, and self-compassion, going well beyond gender. From growing up in a working-class right-wing Israeli family and barely finishing high school to pro-Palestinian activism and escaping compulsory military service by faking madness, to attaining a PhD from Yale-a triumph after poor schooling. Told in three episodes, early transition, later transition and Talia's story, this memoir tackles contemporary gender and social issues. At its heart is a universal theme: to become who we already are, we must integrate the past into the present.

The anthology will be published in May 2023, just ahead of Pride. Containing 30 stories, non-fiction pieces, flash fiction and poetry, the winning entries from an international competition to capture the best of Queer writing today. Entry is open to anyone, without restriction. Submissions will open on 15th August and close on 1st October 2022. Winning authors will be notified in November 2022.

Brimming with vertiginous loops and extreme globe-trotting, This is the account of Karen’s experience flying as cabin crew for British Airways over a 12-year period, and the profound impact that experience had on her life. Told with the wit and verve that characterised her debut. Lifting Off is about seeking identity in a heterosexual world, whilst dealing with the fall-out from fractured family relationships. When a colleague suggests to Karen that she should hide her sexuality to make others feel comfortable, she has no idea what the personal cost will be. Having come out as a lesbian she goes back in. Whilst gay male cabin crew are accepted, gay women are forced to hide their true selves. Against a backdrop of exotic locations, hotel bars and nightclubs, Karen slowly unravels as the inability to truly be herself begins to impact on her spirit. In essence it’s the story of how Karen came into land. How she learned to look after herself and discovered her true strength. Ultimately, it is about love and creativity: unconventional love for her gay best friend, the rarity and transformative release through lesbian love, and the freeing impact of her dad’s death.

First published in 2008 by Vintage this Betty Trask Award winning novel; a humorous LGBTQI+ coming of age story, is available for the first time in 17 years. Lizzie is lonely. Her parents have gone and her brother, who believes he is a woman, is missing. Most of all, though, Lizzie misses Sally, her former lover, who has gone off with a man with a fat neck. She starts to stalk Sally, collecting bathroom fluff, dust and pubes from Sally's bed - all the things that prove that somewhere life is taking place without her.

When her adoptive mother died in 2009 Donna Freed set out to track down her birth mother. What she discovered was truly shocking - she was the daughter of a pair of infamous con artists, at the heart of one of the biggest true crime stories to grip the USA in the 1960s. Previously redacted records from the infamous *Louise Wise Services in New York revealed that Donna s mother (27, Jewish and single), her father (40, Catholic, married with 4 children), had hatched a plan to defraud an insurance company and run off to Spain to raise Donna. Further investigation revealed that in 1967, Donna s mother, Mira Lindenmaier, faked her own death in a drowning accident off City Island in the Bronx for the double indemnity insurance money. Donna loved her tricky, unconventional adoptive mother, but was now keen to meet her birth mother and find out how and why her parents abandoned her. How would she feel towards Mira, her real Mum. How has becoming a mother herself impacted on her feelings towards her two mothers? Gripping and fast-paced, this extraordinary memoir is also incredibly moving tackling fundamental questions about motherhood and identity, nature vs nurture.

Mark Chalmers, 36, dark haired, athletic, keen on skiing and winter sports, speaks fluent French and German and has a taste for wine, food and women. Sounds familiar? It is 1938, pre the Munich Agreement and post Anschluss. Chalmers, a master at Eton, is recruited by an old friend at the Foreign Office and introduced to his boss B . Chalmers reluctantly agrees to take on a hazardous mission for British Intelligence to parachute into Nazi-occupied Austria and pass on information to a British agent. In case of trouble he is given a suicide pill. Chalmers has no intention of committing himself beyond this one job but once he reaches his destination, he finds himself sucked into the cause fighting fascism with the Austrian-German Underground - until there is no turning back.

The winner of the Polari First Book Prize 2023. Having stormed out two years ago, it won't be easy, nor will returning to the haunted river beside the house where words ripple beneath the surface washing up all sorts of memories. Joe turns to his sister, Birdee, the only person who has ever listened. But she can't help him. Then there's Tim Fysh, local fisherman and long-time lover. But reviving their bond is bound to be trouble. As the water settles and Joe learns the truth about the river, he finds that we all have the capability to hate, and that we can all make the choice not to. Ransom's fractured, distinctive prose highlights the beauty and brutality of his story, his extraordinarily vivid sense of place saturates the reader with the wet of the river, and the salty tang of the sea.

A huge figure in the history of British espionage and one of the models for James Bond, Sidney Reilly was born in Russia in 1873. To his employers, the British Secret Service, his background was a mystery yet his immense charisma took him into the epicentre of British establishment. Reilly lived for danger, he spoke seven languages and was rumoured to possess eleven passports and a wife to go with each. Among his exploits in the early twentieth century were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and the near overthrow of the Bolsheviks in 1918. His reputation with women was a legendary as his genius for espionage. Reilly: Ace of Spies was adapted into a BAFTA-winning television series in 1983, starring Sam Neill as Reilly and Ian Charleson as RH Bruce Lockhart. Originally published in 1967, this edition has a foreword by Dugald Bruce Lockhart, the author’s great-nephew. Dugald is a successful actor and author of The Lizard, published to acclaim in 2020.

In 1951 the Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston left grey, post-war London for Greece. Settling first on the tiny island of Kalymnos, then Hydra, their plan was to live simply and focus on their writing, away from the noise of the big city. The result is two of Charmian Clift's best known and most loved books, the memoirs Mermaid Singing and Peel Me a Lotus. Mermaid Singing relays the culture shock and the sheer delight of their first year on the tiny sponge-fishing island of Kalymnos. Clift paints an evocative picture of the characters and sun-drenched rhythms of traditional life, long before backpackers and mass tourism descended. On Hydra, featured in the companion volume, Peel Me a Lotus, Clift and Johnston became the centre of an informal community of artists and writers including the then unknown Leonard Cohen who lodged with them, and his future girlfriend Marianne Ihlen.

The anthology comprises 42 stories, non-fiction pieces, flash fiction and poetry, the winning entries from an international competition to capture the best of Queer writing today. This is writing that explores characters, stories and experiences beyond the mainstream. Celebrating the fascinating, the forbidden, the subversive, and even the mundane, but in essence, the view from outside.

Guilty. One word on a beggar's cardboard sign. And now he is dead, stabbed in a wintry Copenhagen street, the second homeless victim in as many weeks. Dagbladet reporter Jensen, stumbling across the body on her way to work, calls her ex lover DI Henrik Jungersen. As, inevitably, old passions are rekindled, so are old regrets, and that is just the start of Jensen's troubles. The front page is an open goal, but nothing feels right..... When a third body turns up, it seems certain that a serial killer is on the loose. But why pick on the homeless? And is the link to an old murder case just a coincidence? With her teenage apprentice Gustav, Jensen soon finds herself putting everything on the line to discover exactly who is guilty ...

In 1951 the Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston left grey, post-war London for Greece. Settling first on the tiny island of Kalymnos, then Hydra, their plan was to live simply and focus on their writing, away from the noise of the big city. The result is two of Charmian Clift's best known and most loved books, the memoirs Mermaid Singing and Peel Me a Lotus. Mermaid Singing relays the culture shock and the sheer delight of their first year on the tiny sponge-fishing island of Kalymnos. Clift paints an evocative picture of the characters and sun-drenched rhythms of traditional life, long before backpackers and mass tourism descended. On Hydra, featured in the companion volume, Peel Me a Lotus, Clift and Johnston became the centre of an informal community of artists and writers including the then unknown Leonard Cohen who lodged with them, and his future girlfriend Marianne Ihlen.

1970. Fourteen-year-old Tony is seduced by the skinhead movement, sucked into a world of racist violence and bizarre ritual. It's a milieu in which he must hide his homosexuality, in which every encounter is explosively risky. 2003. James a young TV researcher, becomes obsessed with Neo Nazis and British Movement activist Nicky Crane in particular. As he becomes immersed in research, he begins to receive threatening phone calls. Two different worlds, two different eras but two lives that will ultimately and unforgettably collide.