Henry “Monty” Montague

Henry “Monty” Montague is the main character of the YA novel, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.

He was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions— not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

He goes on a grand tour with his best friend, with whom he’s madly in love, and his sister. He plans on a year of hedonistic delight before returning home to take over his family estate. Instead, he ends up on a manhunt across Europe. 

Author Mackenzi Lee discussed her choice to make Monty’s bisexuality explicit in the 18th century. 

Some of the most interesting research I did was about queer history in the 1700s. I grew up in a very conservative religious community. I was the person who, the first time someone said Abraham Lincoln was gay, horrifyingly thought: “That can’t be true because there were no gay people back then!” As I’ve studied history more, I’ve encountered more people who were open about their sexuality. People like Anne Lister, who was considered the first open lesbian. She was born in the late 1700s and wrote extensive diaries; she was a very self-aware, modern lesbian. Charity and Sylvia is a great book about two women in a same-sex marriage in early colonial America. There were more gay bars and clubs in the 1750s than in the 1950s.

I discovered that in a lot of cases, historical accuracy is used as a way to erase minority experiences. We use blanket ideas like “all queer people were oppressed,” when the reality is that there are also many people who were really open and had communities accept them. Queer experience varies so much based on location, community, and direct surroundings. We don’t account for the same type of variability in historical fiction [as in reality]. Monty’s experience encompasses both sides of the spectrum. He has people who are very intolerant and unhappy with who he is. Then there are people in his life, like Percy and Felicity, who are open and try to understand his point of view.^[1]