First published 2024

392 pages

Nonfiction, Erotica, Essays, Feminism

This is a collection of anonymous essays, written in response to the questions "What do you want, when no-one is watching? What do you want, when the lights are off? What do you want, when you are anonymous?". It is a collection of women's sexual fantasies from all around the world, from all ages and walks of life. It contemplates how women feel about sex when they have the freedom of total anonymity. This book was a refreshing, whispered breeze across the skin. 

Something that I've found to be essential to a deep literary experience is the fearlessness of the writer. The bravery to be honest, truly genuine, without self-judgment. That is what this collection gave to the contributors, an opportunity to be thoroughly honest without the fear of shame hanging over them. On multiple occasions as I read this book, it felt like I was reading the personal journal of the contributor. That I was peeking into something so deeply personal; I was an intruder into their most intimate thoughts and fantasies. Which is the whole point of the novel. It is brazen and genuine and fearless. So many times, when we talk about sex, the women's perspective is spoken over. 

Literary sexuality is contained within the socially shamed genre of "smut" or "bodice rippers" (those mass market paperbacks that your grandmother keeps hidden in a drawer, with Fabio on the cover). But this novel brings those sexual fantasies into the light, celebrates them as a human experience. The human sexuality is a fascinating subject on its own, but when you factor in all the other potential experiences that contribute to it, you get a real conversation. And that's what this book is; an honest, playful, refreshing conversation.