The Love That Dares:
Letters of LGBTQ+ Love & Friendship Through History
Authors: Rachel Smith & Barbara Vesey
Published by: Octopus Publishing Group
Pages: 288
Format: Hardback
My Rating: ★★★★
Published by: Octopus Publishing Group
Pages: 288
Format: Hardback
My Rating: ★★★★
A good love letter can speak across centuries and reassure us that the agony and the ecstasy one might feel in the 21st century have been shared by lovers long gone. This is all the more true of LGBTQ+ love letters: love affairs and relationships that, until very recently, had to survive within sealed envelopes and behind closed doors.
In The Love That Dares, queer love speaks its name through the words of lovers from years gone by. Alongside the more famous names coexist beautifully written letters by lesser-known lovers, giving us an insight into queer love outside of the spotlight of fame or fortune.
In The Love That Dares, queer love speaks its name through the words of lovers from years gone by. Alongside the more famous names coexist beautifully written letters by lesser-known lovers, giving us an insight into queer love outside of the spotlight of fame or fortune.
My thoughts:
The Love that Dares is a poignant anthology that celebrates the diverse experiences of love within the LGBTQIA+ community. Stories are powerful tools, especially letters, as they speak straight from the world and experiences of the people who wrote them. Compiled by Rachel Smith and Barbara Vesey, this collection offers a kaleidoscope of voices, each sharing their unique stories of love, friendship, and resilience.
This collection of letters is moving and thoughtful. Fascinating introductions to each set of letters provide an idea of the historical context in which they were written, and the anthology includes letters written by John Cage, Audre Lorde, Benjamin Britten, Lorraine Hansberry, Walt Whitman, Anne Lister, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vita Sackville-West, and Allen Ginsberg.
Alongside the more famous names, the Woolfs and the Wildes, coexist beautifully written letters by lesser-known lovers, giving us an insight into queer love outside of the spotlight of fame or fortune. There is a great deal of passion, desire, sadness, longing, joy and also secrecy in the letters.
Working from the archives at the Bishopsgate Institute in London, the book captures the emotion, the fear, the hope, and the humour in letters sent by LGBTQ+ people across the centuries. The letters themselves are well chosen, crossing centuries, and showing a wide range of emotions, personality, and relationships. The book stands as testament to the fact that love crosses all barriers. I enjoyed how Rachel Smith and Barbara Vesey didn’t just include letters from famous people many of us are familiar with but have given a voice to the historical diversity of the LGBTQ+ community, such as the ancient Greek poet Sappho, who is said to have had male and female lovers and whose poetry talks about her passionate love of women.
The collection provides a touching experience of intimate exchanges between lovers, often celebrating love and friendship between people separated by circumstance, as letters rarely pass between those who are physically together and trying to express real depths of feeling. The closing pages provide details of archives, articles, further reading and podcasts, which cultivate and continue this important conversation.
It’s a fascinating read, but also heart breaking at times. This is a book which I found readable, enjoyable, and very moving, giving real insight into real people’s feelings and introducing me to writers and others writing honestly of their love and friendship. A refreshing, powerful collection that deserves your attention.
Overall reaction: