The Manor House Governess

A smart, eloquent ode to Jane Eyre with an irresistible queer hero at its heart. Orphaned young and raised with chilly indifference at an all-boys boarding school, Bronte Ellis has grown up stifled by rigid rules and social "norms", forbidden from expressing his genuine gender identity. His beloved novels lend an escape, until a position as a live-in tutor provides him with a chance to leave St.Mary's behind. Greenwood Manor is the kind of elegant country house Bron has only read about, and amid lavish parties and cricket matches the Edwards family welcomes him into the household with true warmth. Mr Edwards and the young Ada, his pupil, accept without question that Bron's gender presentation is not traditionally masculine.Only Darcy, the eldest son, seems uncomfortable with Bron - the two of them couldn't be more opposite. When a tragic fire blazes through the estate's idyllic peace, Bron begins to sense dark secrets smouldering beneath Greenwood Manor's surface. Channelling the heroines of Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen and other period classics, he begins to sift through the wreckage.Soon, he's not sure what to believe, especially with his increasing attraction to Darcy clouding his vision. Deeply in conversation with the British classics, but with a warmth and wit uniquely its own, The Manor House Governess is a contemporary, queer homage to classic literature and the period drama; a joyous, uplifting contemporary story about finding yourself and a reminder that queer love can thrive in the present whilst embracing our literary past.