The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened

by Tash Walker, Adam Zmith

An intimate history of LGBTQ+ life over four decades, discovered in a stash of forgotten, handwritten notes.

'A fantastic journey through an overlooked archive bursting with humanity and real life on every page.'
DAN SNOW

'Among the most vivid social histories I've read about contemporary queer life in Britain.'
OISÍN MCKENNA, author of Evenings and Weekends

'In opening the Switchboard archive, and all the vulnerability and thrill contained within its pages, this book manages to capture something of the essence of what it means to be alive.'
AMELIA ABRAHAM, author of Queer Intentions

In a crawlspace at the offices of Switchboard, a queer helpline in operation since 1974, lies dozens of log books kept by volunteers describing the phone calls they had a teenager whose parents had kicked them out of home for dressing as the wrong gender; a lesbian terrified of having her baby taken away from her; a man arrested for chatting up another man in a public toilet; a young person wanting to know how to come out.

These logs were traces of tens of thousands of queer lives, a bridge to a past hidden from people like Tash Walker and Adam Zmith in their youth, captured by people who lent an ear to those in need. Walker and Zmith came of age in the time of Section 28, a law which banned councils and schools 'promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship'. In recovering these logs, they encountered people grappling with feelings, questions and problems both familiar and different, and set out to learn from - and sometimes speak to - those on both sides of the calls.

Charged with joy, gossip, sensuality, humour and sometimes fear, and with a potent relevancy to the world today, these stories are brought together in The Log Books. Walker and Zmith capture queer lives in stunning detail, embarking on a journey of both collective history and self-discovery and propelling it into the very foreground of our national history.

'One of the most intimate portrayals of LGBTQ+ history as you're going to get . . . moving and informative in equal parts.' HUNGER Magazine

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, LGBT, History, Audiobook

444 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 27, 2026

About the author

Tash Walker is a poet, writer, audio producer and queer historian whose work focuses predominantly on the experiences of LGBTQI+ people and our British LGBTQI+ history. Two examples of which are the podcasts The Log Books and The Quilt. Their poetry has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Short Cuts and most recently they were longlisted for The Aurora Prize for Writing 2025. They are the co-author, with Adam Zmith, of The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened (Faber, Jan 2026).

Reviews

[Evie]

So, y’all may have to bear with my while I try to get my thoughts in order for this one.

Let me start with an brief anecdote. Not long ago I knew a young woman through an extracurricular club. She was born in the early 00’s, to a very wealthy and white family and one day unexpectedly showed up with a girlfriend. They were in love, engaged and married in short order. I remember sitting there and made a comment about a recent news article I had seen talking about it being 25 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in a neighbouring state and how shocking it was to remember how recent some of these cultural advancements were… and she stared at me blankly…. because she just had no clue. She had no idea about the history, struggles, triumphs and failures of her queer elders or the history of the human rights movements in the LGBTIQ+ community.

Sitting there, I was dumbstruck by this whirlwind of emotions. Happiness; because what a luxury it is to be able to exist in the privilege of ignorance and not fear for your health or wellbeing. Sadness; because our freedoms today are due to the tireless works of past generations and remain constantly under threat, and anger; because this is important history and the lives of these people should be remembered and just what a wild state of privilege.

I tried to engage her in conversation regarding queer history but gave up when she clearly had no interest in knowing more and would rather just exist in her easy and secure bubble.

All of this is a round about way for me to say how incredibly important I think the content of ‘The Log Books’ is. This book is historical record of the moments that made up queer life from the 70s in the UK through to modern day by way of call records to the queer helpline Switchboard. It delves in to issues of intersectionality, homelessness, judicial and societal persecutions, the growth and development of sexual and gender identity and the little moments that made up the lives of this community of people.

I have thought on this for a while, but I am going to leave this book unrated. I think that the stories and content within this book are near essential reading for people who are interested in queer culture and history. However, I struggled a lot with how the information was presented. I wish that there was more structure or narrative backbone to the book because I would often find myself bouncing around from stories and topics and themes within a singular chapter and struggled to catch the common thread to remain focused. I don’t know if this is as a result of it transitioning from its podcast format but it didn’t work for me as much as I wish it might have, but I don't want that side of my reading experience to hold influence over the value of the actual content that this book holds.

The story provide a very thorough list of content and trigger warnings at the start of this book but it’s worth noting that this book contains some content, themes and language which could be upsetting.

Mostly, finishing this book, I am just pleased to know that an organisation like Switchboard existed as a support for an often vulnerable group of people, and remains a volunteer lead support line still providing this valuable service today.











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[Freya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly phenomenal read with excellent research and human stories. I love when a book plugs the holes of history. Theres always more stories to tell!!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cried about ten times on the tube reading this (complimentary)

Heartfelt, compassionate history on the work of Switchboard volunteers, sharing the lives of those who both worked and called on the line as well as the reflections of Adam and Tash as they uncovered this fascinating queer history.

[Maja Scepanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be a compulsory read in schools ✨

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love. Amazing and poignant reflections of Britain’s queer past and present.

[Anson Mackay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book so much. The themes developed using LGBT+ Switchboard call entries from the 1970s to the 1990s are a snapshot of queer life in the UK. But woven into this story are Tash and Adam’s queer development much later, mirroring the joy and sometimes anguish of their elders. Outstanding

[Domenico Venezia · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a timely book about a time that we're slowly descending back into, even though we never truly completely left it

Loved the stories and especially the ones where we could find out what happened afterwards. It was inspiring, heartbreaking and raging all at the same time.

I did feel the structure of the book was at times a bit all over the place and at the beginning I struggled a bit to understand the emphasis or the importance of the log book on the impact of these stories, and I did feel towards the end that I was left wanting to hear more about the people who worked in the log books and where are they now and how they coped with some of these stories

[Joe S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bits of this massively resonated. I could have done with it being a bit less about the author’s journeys. I get what they were trying to do - but my interested was in Switchboard and the Log Books rather than them.

[Bec]

Can’t really give something like this a number rating yanno? But it was a good and important read about the queer experience during a difficult time

[R A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful! Such a rich and essential capsule of history, that generations will benefit from having access to reading. Awesome stuff.