This Brutal House, Niven Govinden’s fifth novel, begins with an act of protest. Gathered on the steps of New York’s City Hall, five drag Mothers (the heads of five drag families) sit in a silent, textless protest. The Mothers, who act as the guardians and stewards of a queer community, offering both love and accommodation, have come to pray. Their children have been going missing, and no-one is taking notice. These drag families, “drawn together by the air of absence that framed us”, are fierce, and have learnt how to channel their anger.

This vibrant novel is, among other things, about the many ways in which the force of that anger becomes emancipatory. In a time of greater mainstream visibility for drag culture – not only through RuPaul’s Drag Race, but through series such as Pose (currently airing on the BBC), live performance, and literature (think of Joseph Cassara’s House of Impossible Beauties) – Govinden’s gift is to explore the complex and disruptive modes of queerness…

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