The Inalienable Right

Adam Macqueen

In the age of AIDS and Section 28: a secret that could change political history

‘A page-turning thriller’ The Observer

It is 1987, and Tommy Wildeblood has put his days as a rent-boy and a student activist behind him. He is now a rookie teacher at a South London comprehensive.

But when Margaret Thatcher’s government launches a chilling attack on the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in a new law known as Section 28, Tommy can’t stay silent – especially when he realises he may have game-changing intelligence about one of Thatcher’s key lieutenants.

Forming an unlikely alliance with a sharp-elbowed tabloid journalist, and renewing ties with old friends from his days on the Piccadilly Circus ‘meat rack’, he puts his career on the line in a bid to expose the truth.

With his trademark blend of historical research and ‘what if’ fiction, Adam Macqueen captures the spirit of a frightening age in another spellbinding case that lifts the lid on the Eighties political establishment’s murkiest secrets.

‘Macqueen confidently combines a might-have-been version of history in which Section 28 brings down Thatcher with an It’s a Sin-style evocation of the era’ Sunday Times, the best thrillers of 2025

‘The third in Adam Macqueen’s highly readable series of Tommy Wildeblood novels succeeds as a study of gay life in the 80s and as a page-turning thriller, building to a memorably stirring finale’ The Observer

‘The author of the impressive Tommy Wildeblood novels takes his protagonist to 1987 and Section 28. A good read’ The Critic

‘The protagonist of the series is a former rent boy, and Adam Macqueen’s research is peerless, so these books are an intriguing combination of horny and historically accurate’ Helen Lewis

Paperback: 416pp

Published: Lightning (March 2025)

ISBN: 9781785634055