This is a collection of life stories of people who are members of the gay and lesbian community in the Brighton area. The book is based on taped interviews with forty lesbian and gay men who spoke openly about their lives in and around Brighton. In the fifties and sixties the town enjoyed a national reputation as a haven for gay people and it was viewed as a relatively tolerant place for people to visit and live. Lesbians and gay men came from all over Britain for holidays and to settle down. Brighton was considered a type of 'Eldorado', a promised land, and this tradition remains today, where its thriving gay community is one of the largest in the country, outside London.

本書は、沈黙を強いられてきた魂たちの肉声を編み上げた、稀有なオーラル・ヒストリーの傑作です。かつて「約束の地」と謳われたブライトンで、抑圧と解放の狭間を生き抜いた四十人の言葉には、単なる記録を超えた圧倒的な生命力が宿っています。個人の記憶が都市の記憶へと昇華される瞬間の美しさは、読者の魂を激しく揺さぶるでしょう。 そこに宿るのは、真の居場所を求めて彷徨い、輝きを失わなかった「勇敢な心」の軌跡です。日常の断片に潜む文学的な情熱と、自由を渇望する確かな熱量は、現代を生きる私たちの孤独をも包み込む力を持っています。これは歴史の資料ではなく、人間の尊厳をかけた気高き叙事詩なのです。