For this month we are reading the Bed Trick by Izabella Scott.
She said she wore a blindfold at all times. She said she didn't know who she was really having sex with. Two former best friends face each other in court at a sex offence trial. Miss X, making the accusation, claims she was tricked into queer sex, many times, by a best friend pretending to be her boyfriend. But that friend, Gayle Newland, tells a different story. They were secret lesbians, she says, lovers in the closet. The boyfriend was imaginary, and part of a role play that had been going on for years. This astonishing case reached UK courtrooms twice in 2015 and 2017, capturing national attention.
At both trials, Newland was convicted of a rare and controversial crime known as 'rape by deception'. In literature, the plot has been named 'the bed trick'. Shakespeare made it famous in plays with lovers switching places in the dark, but in real life, a consummated bed trick is rare. As The Bed Trick unfolds the riveting story of Newland's trials - a case where reality was stranger than fiction - it also reveals the malleability of courtroom narratives, and the many myths, archetypes and stories embedded in the law.
This is probably the weirdest story I've ever heard, but Izabella Scott lays it out with her clear intelligence, warm empathy and gentle grace' Helen Garner
'A brilliant analysis of the trial of Gayle Newland...Scott is a supremely good guide to this complex terrain, thoughtful, nuanced and agile' Olivia Laing, Guardian
Your ticket includes:
A copy of the book
Access to the group at Juno Books on 14th June at 4.30 pm
Free entry to the event with Izabella Scott on 4th June
Your ticket does NOT include:
Postage. You need to collect the book from Juno Books, 24 Chapel Walk, Sheffield S1 2PD. You can also pay extra for postage. Multiple book orders will be posted at the same time so you only need to pay postage once. Click on More Payment Options to select instore pick up.
For this month we are reading the Bed Trick by Izabella Scott.
She said she wore a blindfold at all times. She said she didn't know who she was really having sex with. Two former best friends face each other in court at a sex offence trial. Miss X, making the accusation, claims she was tricked into queer sex, many times, by a best friend pretending to be her boyfriend. But that friend, Gayle Newland, tells a different story. They were secret lesbians, she says, lovers in the closet. The boyfriend was imaginary, and part of a role play that had been going on for years. This astonishing case reached UK courtrooms twice in 2015 and 2017, capturing national attention.
At both trials, Newland was convicted of a rare and controversial crime known as 'rape by deception'. In literature, the plot has been named 'the bed trick'. Shakespeare made it famous in plays with lovers switching places in the dark, but in real life, a consummated bed trick is rare. As The Bed Trick unfolds the riveting story of Newland's trials - a case where reality was stranger than fiction - it also reveals the malleability of courtroom narratives, and the many myths, archetypes and stories embedded in the law.
This is probably the weirdest story I've ever heard, but Izabella Scott lays it out with her clear intelligence, warm empathy and gentle grace' Helen Garner
'A brilliant analysis of the trial of Gayle Newland...Scott is a supremely good guide to this complex terrain, thoughtful, nuanced and agile' Olivia Laing, Guardian
Your ticket includes:
A copy of the book
Access to the group at Juno Books on 14th June at 4.30 pm
Free entry to the event with Izabella Scott on 4th June
Your ticket does NOT include:
Postage. You need to collect the book from Juno Books, 24 Chapel Walk, Sheffield S1 2PD. You can also pay extra for postage. Multiple book orders will be posted at the same time so you only need to pay postage once. Click on More Payment Options to select instore pick up.
