Chase of the Wild Goose

The story of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, known as the Ladies of Llangollen "They made a noise in the world which has never since died out, and which we, their spiritual descendants, continue to echo." Late 18th century Ireland. Two women from noble families - Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby - meet and form an intense romantic friendship. Against the will of their families - and overcoming the many obstacles placed before them - they leave Ireland and finally settle at Plas Newydd, North Wales. It is here they achieve fame and notoriety; it is here they become the Ladies of Llangollen. Chase of the Wild Goose is the forgotten queer novel of the interwar era - an amiable companion to Woolf's time-travelling Orlando and joyful antidote to the misery of The Well of Loneliness. A historical fiction dedicated to the Ladies of Llangollen, first published by the Hogarth Press in 1936, Gordon's Chase celebrates the search - and psychic need - for queer foremothers, and delights in finding them. With a new afterword by Nicola Wilson. "Gordon's spirited, romantic account of the lives of the Ladies of Llangollen is a fascinating piece of queer literary history in its own right. A claiming of kinship, across time, with two remarkable women, it's a deeply feminist work, a celebration of courage and nonconformity. It's also endearingly odd! Part biography, part novel, part spiritual memoir, it's wholly bold and eccentric and I'm delighted to see it reprinted." - Sarah Waters