The story of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, known as the Ladies of Llangollen

‘They made a noise in the world which has never since died out, and which we, their spiritual descendants, continue to echo.’

Late 18th century Ireland. Two women from noble families – Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby – meet and form an intense romantic friendship.

Against the will of their families – and overcoming the many obstacles placed before them – they leave Ireland and finally settle at Plas Newydd, North Wales.

It is here they achieve fame and notoriety; it is here they become the Ladies of Llangollen.

Chase of the Wild Goose is the forgotten queer novel of the inter-war era – an amiable companion to Woolf’s time-travelling Orlando and joyful antidote to the misery of The Well of Loneliness.

A historical fiction dedicated to the Ladies of Llangollen, first published by the Hogarth Press in 1936, Gordon’s Chase of the Wild Goose celebrates the search – and psychic need – for queer foremothers, and delights in finding them.