Two young castrati arrive in London during the winter of 1712 fully intending to make their fame and fortune in the opera, which is lately in fashion. One of the boys, Gianni, is forced to cross dress to gain a part. Through the glamorous, exciting world of the opera, Nico and Gianni meet others inclined to their own sex and soon are introduced to the hidden same-sex subculture of the times. The two sopranos and their friends don disguises and struggle with varying succes to battle the oppressive forces of The Society For The Reformation of Manners, an organization that wants all people inclined toward their own sex shackled, pilloried, incarcerated, or dead.
This truly is a comic novel. Most of the characters are broad, memorable figures who find themselves in complicated situations requiring them to resort to a disguise.
Romantic attachments are quite important in the book, and complicated as well. For instance, one of the relationships in the story confronts the problems encountered when a man falls in live with another man who lives outwardly as a woman-- the truth is not realized until much later. The novel investigates the problems of loving someone of the same sex in oppressive times and explores the eternal question of whether the person one loves returns his feelings in kind.
‘I have to go back soon,’ says Adam one afternoon. Yes, I know he has to go back soon. He has to go back to London and to his job and his apprenticeship. He has taken the maximum number of days leave – he has taken his entire Summer holiday in the Sp
When the powers-that-be make the decision to return a selfish party-girl, Zara, to Earth on three missions of redemption, can romance and mayhem be far behind? One hot and trendy gay nightclub, two bickering angels and three unlikely pairs add up to
Just a simple gathering of the Gay & Lesbian Activist Association of New Birch and Sipsboror (GLAABS) and we plunge down a hilarious ride to perdition.
