Clapton Bottom

What if England's green and pleasant land had always contained a hidden queer Jerusalem? Clapton Bottom is a queer fairy tale disguised as an English village. Clapton Bottom shouldn't exist. Tucked among the green fields of Wiltshire lies a village of thatched roofs, church fêtes, homemade jam and formidable elderly ladies. On the surface, it is like countless other English villages. Underneath, it has always been something else. In Clapton Bottom, the WI is unapologetically queer, old injustices never quite stay buried, and forgotten histories have been woven into village life for far longer than anyone cares to admit. Newcomers soon discover that the village has its own rules. Visitors may find them unusual. In Clapton Bottom, prudery is a sin. Part rural satire, part queer fairy tale, Clapton Bottom is a love letter to the hidden queer histories of England and the communities that preserve them. Come and visit a village whose folklore happens to be queer. A Note from the Author Clapton Bottom grew from a simple question: what if the people left out of rural England's story had always been part of it? Not hidden away or merely tolerated, but woven into the fabric of village life. The novel draws inspiration from William Blake's vision of Jerusalem, not as a distant heaven but as something built here, among England's green and pleasant fields. In its own ridiculous, affectionate and occasionally outrageous way, Clapton Bottom imagines such a place. A place where belonging is not earned but assumed. Where newcomers are folded into the story. Where the people history pushed to the margins discover they were part of England all along. It is not a fantasy of escape from England. It is a fantasy of belonging to it. Not a rejection of England, but a reimagining of it.