The Bed Trick: Sex and Deception on Trial

We've been great admirers of Izabella Scott's work for years - co-author of Pleasure Gardens, and formerly co-editor of The White Review - so we're thrilled about her nonfiction solo debut, a captivating piece of feminist scholarship and cultural reflection: The Bed Trick.

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.

We're so excited to be hosting Izabella Thomas in conversation with Prof Sharon Cowan to discuss The Bed Trick at the shop on Thursday 26th February!

Izabella’s book is incredibly well-researched, inspiring us to compile a reading list of some of the many books she references in The Bed Trick. Pick up a few if you want to get a better understanding of sex, gender and the law, and come join us; it’s sure to be a thought-provoking discussion.