NOTHING EVER JUST DISAPPEARS: Seven Hidden Queer Histories
by Diarmuid Hester
Pegasus Books. 358 pages, $29.95
THE ORIGIN STORY for Diarmuid Hester’s Nothing Ever Just Disappears begins in Cambridge, England, when the author had a realization that the queer history of that place was disappearing. With his friend David Bramwell, he created an hour-long podcast, “The Great Recorded History,” a nod to Wendy Moffat’s excellent biography of E. M. Forster, A Great Unrecorded History—which is, in turn, Forster’s reference to the many LGBT lives that have been obfuscated or lost. According to Hester’s website, the podcast “explores Cambridge’s queer past through its literature and politics. Featuring interviews with older members of the city’s lgbtq+ community and excerpts from literature produced in the city, it gives listeners a chance to understand the history of the place—and become part of it.” You can hear in that description that Hester wants to take us places, real and imaginary, and to share stories.
Chris Freeman, a longtime G&LR contributor, teaches English at the University of Southern California.
