Today’s #SaturdaySentence comes from “The New Life,” by Tom Crewe. The novel, Crewe’s debut, makes fiction of real history: In London, in the 1890s, two men, John Addington Symonds and Henry Havelock Ellis, collaborated on a study supporting freedom for “sexual inverts,” or what we would now call gay rights. Their efforts predate popular conceptions of the fight for equal rights, and it’s their lives and work that take the spotlight in Crewe’s reimagining. When John and Henry’s book gets caught in turmoil, they must ask if, and how, they should stand by their work — defending “Sexual Inversion” could bring about a moment of political and cultural reckoning that John and Henry both want, but it could also expose hidden parts of their lives, and their loved ones’ lives, that they want to keep private. Peter Kispert, the author of “I Know You Know Who I Am,” reviewed the book for us. “‘The New Life’ brims with intelligence and insight, impressed with all the texture (and fog) of fin de siècle London,” he writes. He continues: “For all its historical fixtures, the novel is energized by timeless questions: What’s worth jeopardizing in the name of progress? Who should assume the greatest degree of risk in the pursuit of an ideal? Is it possible for one book to catalyze lasting change?” Tap the link in our bio to read the full review.