by Jeremy Seabrook

A moving memoir chronicling the friendship of two gay men coming of age in 1950s Britain

‘All profound relationships have the quality of being a folie a deux; an intimate departure from reality, an imaginative creation of a world apart; perhaps this is a way of calling forth meaning – the merging of senseless subjectivities.’

In 1950s suburban England, a friendship bloomed between Jeremy Seabrook and Michael O’Neill – both gay men coming of age during a time when homosexuality was still a crime. Their relationship was inflected by secrecy and fear; the shadows that had distorted their adolescent years were never wholly dispelled, long into their adult life.

Lyrical, candid and poignant, this is a tale of sexual identity, working-class history and family drama. A memoir of unparalleled authenticity, Private Worlds is an elegy for a doomed friendship.

Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: 20 Apr. 2023
Format: Paperback (12.9 x 1.42 x 19.8 cm)
224 pages
ISBN: 9780745348421