After his mammoth, shamanic aria London: the Biography, the remarkable writer Peter Ackroyd has produced a nimble, uproarious pocket history of sex in his beloved metropolis—Alasdair Lees, Independent

Ackroyd has an encyclopaedic knowledge of London, and a poet's instinct for its strange, mesmerising drives and urges ... Queer City contains something to alarm or fascinate on every page—Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday

Droll, provocative and crammed to busting with startling facts—Simon Callow, The Guardian

If there was a prize for the most evocative or salacious chapter headings, then Peter Ackroyd's new book, Queer City, would be the undisputed victor. They capture the rudery and naughtiness, although not the erudition of this entertaining history of the 'queer' experience in London—Robbie Millen, The Times

Succinct, perceptive and robust—Rupert Christiansen, Daily Telegraph

The kind of screed a queer person would be remiss if they did not pick up. This is a call to arms... Throughout the book it is made clear that for every halcyon day, there was a dystopia that preceded and followed. The one great progress Ackroyd highlights is that we have one thing in the 21st century that the other eras did not: an attempt a 'gay community' ... London relies on queerness as much as queers have relied on the labyrinth and the bacchanal of the Big Smoke. Now, it seems, we have a chance to change it in the open—David Levesley, i

Ackroyd's brisk little history of what he calls queer London is itself a collation of sweetmeats—Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times

Always entertaining ... much to be recommended—Philip Hensher, The Spectator

This gallop through the pink past [...] tells a torrid tale of persecution and pleasure, of blackmail and blue murder—Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard

By shining a light in dark places, Ackroyd has created a triumphantly queer picture of a city he loves – as city as queer as any other—Philip Hoare, New Statesman