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Hugo Hunter is the most important gay writer of the 20th century, but he has a secret: he didn't write either of his novels. So, when he accepts a million dollars to produce another masterpiece, how far will Hugo go to come up with a third?
But after decades of fame and excess, just as New York City enters the 1980s and awakes to the coming horror of AIDS, Hugo finds himself running out of money. Out of nowhere, he receives an extraordinary lifeline: an offer from his longtime publisher. Two million dollars, for a memoir and a new novel.
The money will solve all his problems – except for one thing. Hugo Hunter is an imposter. He stole both of his novels. Now, how far will he go to produce a third?
At once dark, moving and deliciously vicious, OBJECTS OF DESIRE traverses the 20th century, featuring an astonishing cast of characters. It is both a colourful glimpse into the lives of the cultural elite, and a tense, gripping story of betrayal, deceit, and literary fraud.
Author: Neil Blackmore
Paperback Published 8 July 2025 320 pages
Read and Recommended by Graeme:
"Neil Blackmore has distinguished himself in the genre of gay historical fiction by choosing fascinating historical backdrops and plotting page-turning narratives. From a Grand Tour of Europe in 1764 (The Intoxicating Mr Lavalle), the court of James I of England (The Dangerous Kingdom of Love) through to the molly houses of London in 1809 (Radical Love), the books have also been distinguished by complex, flawed main characters who may not be very likeable to some readers. But in Objects of Desire, Blackmore fast forwards to the 20th century and the literary world of London (Elizabeth Bowen, Angus Wilson, Sonia Orwell) and New York (James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Christopher Isherwood, Truman Capote). The novel tells the * story of how Huw Baker-Williams, from a working class family in the South Wales Valleys, transformed himself into Hugo Hunter, a literary icon of the 20th century...but without writing any of the novels he was so highly acclaimed for! The novel tells the story of how Huw ‘acquired’ the manuscripts that made him so famous and the extreme lengths he would go to perpetuate his literary fraud. The book is wildly entertaining especially with cameos from the likes of Gore Vidal and Truman Capote, deftly recycling some of their witty and vicious pronouncements. Although possibly it is the period in literary London where Huw is grasping for fame that is fresher as he is drawn into a circle of literary figures who are less well known. For anyone seeking a witty, propulsive page turner look no further!"
'Razor-sharp and deeply unsettling while being endlessly entertaining. A triumph.' JENNIE GODFREY, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS
'A delicious, literary feast. A wickedly funny and sharply relevant novel of duplicity and betrayal with a glittering cast of literary greats.' ANNA MAZZOLA, author of THE BOOK OF SECRETS