Chase of the Wild Goose: 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.

Refusing multiple marriage offers and the conventions of the day, they plot their escape and plan to live together in exquisite retirement.

Against the will of their families – and overcoming the many obstacles placed before them – they leave Ireland and finally settle at Plas Newydd in Llangollen, 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 1930s – a joyful corrective to the misery of The Well of Loneliness, and amiable companion to Woolf’s time-travelling Orlando.

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