title: Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution
author:  Laurie Penny 
description: Laurie Penny is such an insightful, provocative and bold commentator. She is always relevant without slavishly following a supposedly 'topical' agenda set by others. Most importantly, she never compromises her compassion and humanity in the myopic pursuit of an idea. It's such qualities that make Unspeakable Things essential for anybody who truly believes in equality and freedom * <b>Irvine Welsh</b> * Full of the rhythm and repetition on oratory and persuasive and unsettling in its view of western society as a damaging dystopia causing untold harm to all but those at the very top. It is angry and challenging, but also full of compassion - including for men, many of whom have also been disenfranchised by systems they did not choose ... Unspeakable Things is an impressive, inspiring and, I suspect, important manifesto * <b>Melissa Harrison, <i>Financial Times</i></b> * Penny thrills in being provocative and dramatic ... She writes well about the social pressures they are under to behave with macho "masculinity" at all times * <b>Daisy Wyatt, <i>Independent</i></b> * Powerfully argued ... Penny has a great turn of phrase * <i><b>Evening Standard</b></i> * As Penny demonstrates, in a great, defining chapter on the internet, we are dealing with a new world order ... This book is funny and cheeky ... and refreshingly generous * <i><b>Observer</b></i> * A raw, bright, urgent voice ... Like Caitlin Moran, another compulsive and essentially self-taught writer, she went to places others didn't and brought back things they had missed ... Dazzling ... Penny writes ... with intimacy and insight that smack of real knowledge * <i><b>Guardian</b></i> * Laurie Penny can certainly coin a phrase ... she writes well, inclusively and cogently with passion ... Let's hear it for "young, lady writers" behaving badly * <i><b>Herald</b></i> * Unflinching ... In Unspeakable Things, Laurie Penny reclaims the word insolent, turning it into a compliment and a call to arms * <b><i>TLS</i></b> * The spiky subversiveness of Laurie's journalism is best summed up by her sub-title, 'sex, lies, and revolution'. This is feminism with no apologies given, no compromises surrendered and a sharp-edged radicalism all the better for both. -- Mark Perryman * Philosophical Football * Many of us who "find" feminism when we are young do so through books. For many women of my age who were young in the late 80s, it was Kate Millet's Sexual Politics; for many young men and women of today, it will be Laurie Penny's personal yet political take on the state of sexual politics now. One can hope so, anyway, for the current crop of excellent feminist commentators, she probably strikes the best balance between the personal and political. Her voice is passionate without being one-dimensional. She addresses the need today for young men to be included in feminism's discussions while never losing sight of women's own particular experiences -- <b> Lesley McDowell </b> * <b> <i> Independent on Sunday </i></b><i> </i> *
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  ‘I don’t know what burns between us, Mrs St Harlow, but there will come a time
  when we shall not have the will to stop it. I can promise you that.’
  
  There—the words were said, falling against lies and covering them with a
  softer edge, like snow across the jagged sharpness of rocks.
  
  The lump in her throat made her swallow as she tried to find an answer but
  what indeed could she say? If she agreed then only ruin would follow, and if
  she didn’t…
  
  She could not speak, even with everything held in the balance, and Lord
  Hawkhurst let her hand go and took a pace backwards.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  AUTHOR NOTE
  
  Three homeless and parentless boys are sent to Eton, where they forge a bond
  of friendship that can never be broken.
  
  Now powerful lords, they need to marry, but the complex and intriguing women
  they choose mean that the road to happiness is not going to be an easy one.
  
  Lucas Clairmont’s story appeared in MISTLETOE MAGIC, Stephen Hawkhurst is the
  hero of MISTRESS AT MIDNIGHT and Nath