The Story of O is an erotic novel about love, dominance and submission by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Reage. Published in French by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Story of O is a tale of female submission about a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer, O, who is blindfolded, chained, whipped, branded, pierced, made to wear a mask, and taught to be constantly available for oral, vaginal, and anal intercourse. Despite her harsh treatment, O grants permission beforehand for everything that occurs, and her permission is consistently sought. At the beginning of the story, O's lover, Rene, brings her to the chateau of Roissy, where she is trained to serve the men of an elite group. After this first period of training is finished, as a demonstration of their bond and his generosity, Rene hands O to Sir Stephen, a more dominant master. Rene wants O to learn to serve someone whom she does not love, and someone who does not love her."

Pauline Réage’s Story of O continues as a woman returns to the place of her most intimate initiation. She gave up everything to surrender to the forces of sensual love. Beautiful “O” is a Parisian photographer who makes a bold choice to follow her most forbidden desires. Her story takes her to the deepest, most dangerous places of domination, where the pleasures of the flesh meet the needs of the heart. O’s journey sweeps her from the compelling embrace of René, where she gained understanding of true physical surrender, to the mysterious Sir Stephen and his chateau, where women learn to master the sensual arts. In this private club, O is challenged to release everything but her desire to be a willing vessel of pleasure—and forced to confront who she is and what she truly wants. As jealousy, sadistic games, and uncertainty make her question the lines she has crossed for love, she can only wonder: How far and how deep will she go? And where will it stop?

Steven Diamond is a high-powered LA attorney by day, but by night he uses his wealth and influence to indulge his most intimate desires. His life is a waking dream until his half-brother presents him with a unique gift: the eponymous O, a mysterious, seductive and submissive hedonist in search of a master deserving of her complete devotion.

Bataille’s first novel, published under the pseudonym ‘Lord Auch’, is still his most notorious work. In this explicit pornographic fantasy, the young male narrator and his lovers Simone and Marcelle embark on a sexual quest involving sadism, torture, orgies, madness and defilement, culminating in a final act of transgression. Shocking and sacreligious, Story of the Eye is the fullest expression of Bataille’s obsession with the closeness of sex, violence and death. Yet it is also hallucinogenic in its power, and is one of the erotic classics of the twentieth century.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.

'A woman writes a story for her married lover. Something she always thought of as a fairy tale. A fairy tale with a dark side, like the best of fairy tales...' Occupied France, 1943. France's most shameful hour. In these dark times, Dominique starts an illicit affair with a distinguished publisher, a married man. He introduces her to the Resistance, and she comes to have a taste for the clandestine life - she has never felt more alive. Shortly after the war, to prove something to her lover, she writes an erotic novel about surrender, submission and shame. Never meant to be published, Story of O becomes a national scandal and success, the world's most famous erotic novel. But what is the story really about - Dominique, her lover, or the country and the wartime past it would rather forget? From one of our foremost writers, the acclaimed and multi-award-winning Steven Carroll, comes O, a reimagining of what might have been, the story of a novel that took on a life of its own and mirrored its times in a way the author never dreamt of. 'He is one of the best we've ever had.' Geraldine Brooks