Throughout history and down the centuries, erotic literature about women, men, their sexuality and the choices they make, has been available in print. Some books have been published to great acclaim, others have attracted scandal and controversy, but many have been bestsellers.

Erotic fiction offers the reader a very personal outlet in which they can rejoice in and reflect on the complex workings of human sexuality. The notorious novel ‘Fanny Hill’, published in 1749, is seen by many as the first modern ‘erotic novel’ in English, but the literary exploration of human sexuality has been sustained with a great array of captivating and eloquent novels throughout time.

Venus In Furs

We take a look at some of the most celebrated erotic literature.

Venus in Furs - Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch

In 1870, this erotic novella brought the world’s attention to the phenomenon of masochism – now so named after the author. Venus in Furs tells the story of Severin, a man so infatuated by a woman that he asks to be treated as her slave and encourages her to treat him in increasingly more degrading ways.This novel offers readers a first-hand look at brutish desire in a masochistic relationship.

Fanny Hill (Also known as Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) -  John Cleland

John Cleland’s infamous 18th-century novel – first published as Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure in 1749 – became the epitome of a battle against erotica censorship in literature. This saucy story tells the tale of a young country girl who falls into prostitution and, although Fanny eventually rises to respectability, it is not before she has enjoyed her string of lovers, utterly hooked on sexual pleasure.

Wetlands -  Charlotte Roche

In April 2008, Charlotte Roche was the first German author to top Amazon’s monthly bestseller list with her debut novel, Wetlands. A highly sexually explicit novel, Wetlands begins in a hospital room after an intimate shaving accident.  The plot then proceeds to examine almost every nook and cranny, physical and emotional, of the narrator’s – 18-year-old Helen’s – body and mind. Gory, filthy, adventurous, but thought -provoking.

Girl With A One Track Mind

Girl with a One Track Mind – Abby Lee

Girl with a One Track Mind by Abby Lee (the pen name of Zoe Margolis) was published in 2006 and based on her hugely popular sex blog. It became a publishing phenomenon and Abby Lee is now Britain’s most famous sex diarist. The prose itself is very explicit as Abby details her trysts with various lovers and her many sexual experimentations, but also portrays a smart, sassy young woman knowing what she wants and going forth to get it.

Fingersmith – Sarah Waters

Fingersmith has been described as ‘pure lesbian Victoriana’. Published in 2002 and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it’s a gripping page turner about an orphan girl sent to a country estate to work for a young heiress, and persuade her to marry a mysterious benefactor known as the Gentleman. However the women’s relationship soon becomes physical and there follows a tale of lust, passion, fixation and betrayal.

Delta of Venus -  Anais Nin

Anais Nin was a French-Cuban author, who eventually settled in the US, famous for her published journals and erotic fiction. First published in 1978, Delta of Venus is an anthology of short stories, actually written during the 1940s and covering many different sexual themes and ideas. Nin wrote the collection for a private client known only as the ‘collector’. The ‘collector’ commissioned Nin, along with several other writers, to write erotic tales for his own private pleasure and use.

Kinflicks – Lisa Alther

Kinflicks by American author Lisa Alther was originally published in 1976 and charts the journey of Ginny Babcock’s coming of age in 50s and 60s Tennessee. This book is very raunchy and explicit about all types of sex, orgasms, sex toys and lesbian experimentation, whilst being extremely funny.

Histoire d'O

Story of O (Histoire d’O) – Pauline Reage

Among the most infamous erotic novels of all time, this extraordinary book was published in France in 1954. Appearing on the market in both French and English, Story of O describes explicit scenes of bondage and violent sex, portraying brutal desire with whips, masks and chains. Pauline Reage was a pen-name for the author and many people believed the book must have been written by a man. But the writer’s identity was not revealed until the nineties, when an 86-year-old journalist called Dominique Aury acknowledged that the fantasies of debauchery were indeed hers. She also revealed that she had written it as a love letter to Jean Paulhan, the French writer and literary critic – and her lover of 20 years.

Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

The first sentence of this novel is as notorious as the actual book itself: ‘Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins’. Often ranked in the Top 100 fiction books of the 20th Century, Lolita is internationally famous for its controversial story – a middle-aged protagonist Humbert Humbert who becomes obsessed and sexually involved with a young girl called Dolores (Lolita) aged just twelve. In fact, ‘Lolita’ has even become a byword for a sexually precocious girl. But, published in Paris in 1955, Nabokov created a work of brilliance – an acute, lust-fuelled and, even at times, comic observation on sex, power and obsession.