The Gaudy Image

How do you find the perfect man? Like most people Titania aka Thomas Schwartz is desperately trying to find out!

Set in New Orleans and featuring a colourful cast of louche but loveable characters, the story follows Titania through the backstreets, bars and club of the French Quarter in search of the perfect lover – the Gaudy Image.

Originally published in Europe in the 50s to avoid prosecution for obscenity, The Gaudy Image is one of the most important ‘lost’ gay novels.

A beautifully written story that is both elegant and caustically humorous, erotic and sympathetic.

For fans of Dorothy Baker, Bryan Washington and Zak Salih.



William Talsman was the pseudonym of James M Smith a US writer and poet, who is considered to be one of the founders of modern gay literature.