Private Worlds

'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.

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

Jeremy Seabrook has been writing books for over half a century. His articles have been featured in the Guardian, The Times and the Independent. A child of the industrial working class of Northampton, Britain, his writing helped him escape a repressive and puritanical society. He has written plays for stage, TV and the theatre, some in collaboration with his close friend, Michael O’Neill.