The Liberty Man (1955)
Gillian Freeman
With a new introduction by Edward Thorpe
Book Description
When Freda Mackenzie, an eminently respectable young schoolteacher with a stockbroker father and a background of tennis, riding and university, meets Derek Smith, a big blond sailor from the East End of London, she tells herself that she sees him only as a challenge, that she simply enjoys watching his reactions as she introduces him to good food, good films, good music. But their friendship develops into something more: Derek awakens in Freda a latent sensuality, a passionate joy in the act of love she has never before experienced or even imagined. As their affair becomes more intense, Freda and Derek find themselves torn between their feelings for each other and their very different social backgrounds—and they have only three short weeks in which to make their choice . . .
Critically acclaimed on its initial publication and later recognized by critic Mary Cadogan as “considerably in advance of its time”, Gillian Freeman’s first novel, The Liberty Man (1955), returns to print for the first time in almost 40 years. This edition features a new introduction by Edward Thorpe and a reproduction of the original jacket art.
Gillian Freeman
With a new introduction by Edward Thorpe
Book Description
When Freda Mackenzie, an eminently respectable young schoolteacher with a stockbroker father and a background of tennis, riding and university, meets Derek Smith, a big blond sailor from the East End of London, she tells herself that she sees him only as a challenge, that she simply enjoys watching his reactions as she introduces him to good food, good films, good music. But their friendship develops into something more: Derek awakens in Freda a latent sensuality, a passionate joy in the act of love she has never before experienced or even imagined. As their affair becomes more intense, Freda and Derek find themselves torn between their feelings for each other and their very different social backgrounds—and they have only three short weeks in which to make their choice . . .
Critically acclaimed on its initial publication and later recognized by critic Mary Cadogan as “considerably in advance of its time”, Gillian Freeman’s first novel, The Liberty Man (1955), returns to print for the first time in almost 40 years. This edition features a new introduction by Edward Thorpe and a reproduction of the original jacket art.
reviews
“Gillian Freeman is among the finest contemporary novelists.” – Brigid Brophy, New Statesman
“It is altogether an astonishing novel for a young woman to have written. The story describes, convincingly and touchingly, the brief, sensual affair that springs up between a sailor on leave and a young school teacher. The difference in their social status … is directly and honestly suggested, and their frank sexual attraction for each other is given a warm and compelling context … a novel that has the ring of truth.” – Times Literary Supplement
“This novel is successful in an honest and unpretentious way.” – The Guardian
“It is altogether an astonishing novel for a young woman to have written. The story describes, convincingly and touchingly, the brief, sensual affair that springs up between a sailor on leave and a young school teacher. The difference in their social status … is directly and honestly suggested, and their frank sexual attraction for each other is given a warm and compelling context … a novel that has the ring of truth.” – Times Literary Supplement
“This novel is successful in an honest and unpretentious way.” – The Guardian
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1939140803 ISBN-13: 978-1939140807 $16.99 US, 190 pp. Trade paper Published 2014 |
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Gillian Freeman was born in London in 1929. She earned her degree with honours in English literature and philosophy from the University of Reading in 1951 and afterwards worked as a copywriter, schoolteacher, reporter, and literary secretary to the novelist Louis Golding before embarking on a literary career of her own. In response to an advertisement placed by the fledgling literary agency of Anthony Blond, Freeman submitted the manuscript of her first novel, The Liberty Man, which went on to be published by Longmans and was one of the best reviewed novels of 1955. By 1961, Blond had his own publishing house and wanted to publish a ‘Romeo and Romeo’ novel with working-class gay protagonists; the result was The Leather Boys, published under the pseudonym of Eliot George. The book was well received and went into numerous paperback printings in the US and UK during the 1960s and ’70s before Gay Men’s Press reprinted it in 1985 as part of its Gay Modern Classics series; it was also adapted for Sidney J. Furie’s Golden Globe-nominated 1964 film, for which Freeman wrote the screenplay.
Freeman’s other novels include The Leader (1965), a disturbing ‘what if’ story about a Fascist’s rise to power in Britain; The Alabaster Egg (1970), a historical novel whose title refers to a gift from the gay King Ludwig II to his lover that later finds its way into the possession of a young woman in Nazi Germany; Nazi Lady (1978), the fictional diaries of a woman of the Third Reich; and An Easter Egg Hunt (1981), the tragic story of a young girl in Edwardian England who disappears from a boarding school on Easter Sunday. More recently, Freeman’s His Mistress’s Voice (1999) and But Nobody Lives in Bloomsbury (2006) have been published by Arcadia Books.
In addition to her novels, Freeman has written a number of screenplays, including That Cold Day in the Park (1969) and I Want What I Want (1972). Her nonfiction works include the influential study of pornography The Undergrowth of Literature (1967) and Ballet Genius: Twenty Great Dancers of the Twentieth Century (1988), the latter co-authored with her husband, the novelist and ballet critic Edward Thorpe. Freeman also wrote the scenario for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s immensely successful ballet Mayerling, which premiered in London in 1978 and which has since entered the repertoires of ballet companies all over the world.
Gillian Freeman and Edward Thorpe have two daughters and live in London.
Freeman’s other novels include The Leader (1965), a disturbing ‘what if’ story about a Fascist’s rise to power in Britain; The Alabaster Egg (1970), a historical novel whose title refers to a gift from the gay King Ludwig II to his lover that later finds its way into the possession of a young woman in Nazi Germany; Nazi Lady (1978), the fictional diaries of a woman of the Third Reich; and An Easter Egg Hunt (1981), the tragic story of a young girl in Edwardian England who disappears from a boarding school on Easter Sunday. More recently, Freeman’s His Mistress’s Voice (1999) and But Nobody Lives in Bloomsbury (2006) have been published by Arcadia Books.
In addition to her novels, Freeman has written a number of screenplays, including That Cold Day in the Park (1969) and I Want What I Want (1972). Her nonfiction works include the influential study of pornography The Undergrowth of Literature (1967) and Ballet Genius: Twenty Great Dancers of the Twentieth Century (1988), the latter co-authored with her husband, the novelist and ballet critic Edward Thorpe. Freeman also wrote the scenario for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s immensely successful ballet Mayerling, which premiered in London in 1978 and which has since entered the repertoires of ballet companies all over the world.
Gillian Freeman and Edward Thorpe have two daughters and live in London.