London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp

Rent boys, aristocrats, artists and criminals populate this award-winning novel as Jonathan Kemp skilfully interweaves the lives and loves of three very different men across the decades.
 
Jack Rose begins his apprenticeship as a rent boy with Alfred Taylor in the 1890s, and discovers a life of pleasure and excess that leads him to new friendships, most notably with the soon-to-be infamous Oscar Wilde. A century later, David tells his own tale of unashamed decadence while waiting to be released from prison, addressing his story to the lover who betrayed him. Where their paths cross, in the politically sensitive 1950s when gay men were the target of police and politicians alike, artist Colin tentatively explores his sexuality as he draws in preparation for his most ambitious painting yet — London Triptych.
 
Moodily atmospheric and rich with history, London Triptych is a sexy, resplendent portrait of the politics and pleasures of queer life in one of the world’s most fascinating cities.
 
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'There is a deceptively relaxed quality to Kemp's writing that is disarming, bewitching and, to be honest, more than a little sexy... akin to the Pied Piper, if only because there is something magical you cannot help but follow.' —Polari