Top

We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Valentine Grey

On sale

3rd April 2022

Price: £19.99

Green Carnation Prize, 2012

Select a format

Selected: Audiobook Downloadable / ISBN-13: 9781405552578

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

From the author of BETWEEN THE STOPS and TOKSVIG’S ALMANAC

‘Teasing out untold stories of the battlefield . . . follows the footsteps of the likes of Sarah Waters and Pat Barker’ Independent

London, 1897. A young girl, Valentine Grey, arrives in England. She’s been brought up in the remote and sunny climes of India and finds being forced into corsets and skirts in damp and cold country insufferable. The only bright spot: her exciting cousin, Reggie. Reggie, and his lover Frank seek out the adventure the clandestine bars and streets of London offer and are happy to include Valentine in their secret, showing her theatre, gardens – even teaching her how to ride a bicycle.

And then comes the Boer War and Reggie’s father volunteers him; the empire must be defended. But it won’t be Reggie who dons the Volunteer Regiment’s garb. Valentine takes her chance, puts on her cousin’s uniform, leaving Reggie behind and heads off to war. And for a long while it’s glorious and liberating for both of the cousins, but war is not glorious and in Victorian London homosexuality is not liberating . . .

What's Inside

Read More Read Less