A runaway heir/ess and a gang of queer misfit Victorian detectives cause choas in a small country town. Charles Dickens meets Hot Fuzz. (and everyone is queer)
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“A joy to be invited into the raucous, charming, conniving world of Nettleblack. Nat Reeve’s novel presents a vivid, entirely engrossing story where subterfuge, scurrilousness, skullduggery and sincerity zip through the pages. All told with wit, flair and heart: a true delight.” – Eley Williams, author of The Liar’s Dictionary and Attrib. & Other Stories
“Fresh, witty, and wildly original, Nettleblack is an unforgettable debut that brings a world of subversive characters to brilliant life, and announces the arrival of a unique new voice.” – Preti Taneja, author of Aftermath and We That Are Young
“Nettleblack arrives breathlessly, wholly itself, yet also winding down the strange and brilliant bent lanes previously ridden by Sylvia Townsend Warner and Robert Aickman. It’s a gorgeous bicycle basket of a novel wherein there are many things that delight my big gay heart… A heart tonic in a dark time, Nettleblack will sweep you up unawares and carry you along in its headlong plots and desires, just as the Dallyangle Division does to Henry – and like Henry, you may find that it changes, and even saves, you, or at the very least, makes you ecstatic.” – So Mayer, author of A Nazi Word for a Nazi Thing
“Nettleblack plunges the reader head-first into an immersive and absorbing world of Victorian demi-monde derring-do, told by an unforgettable narrator. Henry Nettleblack avoids a (married) fate worse than death by hiding amongst a band of intrepid thief-catchers, experiencing a thrilling (and queer) coming-of-age outside the boundaries of conventional society. Nat Reeves’ debut sizzles and crackles with confidence, offering a timeless tale of LGBTQ people finding family wherever they can. A delight! – Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces
A local non-binary cravat designer ruins the detectives’ week in every possible way. The sequel to Nettleblack: disaster dandies a-plenty.
Buy the book through Cipher Press or through bookshop.org
“Nat Reeve is a breath of fresh air in historical fiction; Queer, humerous, light-hearted whilst also being deeply profound” – Emma Hinds, author of The Knowing and The Quick & The Dead
“An imersive joy: clever, propulsive, swaggering and beguiling” – Nell Stevens, author of Briefly, A Delicious Life.
“Come for the swordstick wielding, stay for the reflexivity and tenderness. I’m so glad I read this.” – Kit Heyam, author of Before We Were Trans
“There is intrigue with ferrets ; profanities with fruits; restraints both erotic and carceral; and writing sharper than the keen edge of a family heirloom sword. It’s a paisley of a novel, seamlessly brought together by a novelist and a protaganist cravat designer with the most impeccable charm” – Prue Bussey-Chamberlain, author of Bone Horn
“What a dramatic and delightful romp through the Victorian era! This is history like you’ve never seen it before: Nat Reeve shows you what is possible when we brush the dust off history and see the past for the lively, exciting, queer place that it was!” – Christine Lehnen, author of Remembering Women
Nat Reeve 