Product Description

An explosive novel of sex, secrecy and escape by an anonymous writer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1099907 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 374 pages

The Independent
'Nikki Gemmell's prose is wonderfully sensuous ... a subtle portrait of a modern and rather alienating marriage.'

From the Publisher
A woman disappears. Her car lies abandoned on a remote bluff; no body is found. She was the good wife, the good mother: mannerly, quiet, self-contained. But she has left behind an incendiary diary chronicling a disturbing journey of sexual awakening.

As the diary opens on her honeymoon in Morocco, she believes herself to be happy - or happy enough, anyway. Swiftly, this security masquerading as love fractures in an act of massive betrayal, only to propel her into a world of desire and fantasy and recklessness. What begins for her in the imagination ends in a tangle of sheets, in a drowning spiral of obsession and release. She finds an unlikely heroine to inspire her in a dusty, rare manuscript written by an anonymous woman in the 1600s, a cry from the heart for women to live and love freely. With this as guide, she dares to rupture convention, learning, for the first time, the intoxicating power of knowing what she wants and how to get it. The question is, how long can her soul sustain a perilous double life?

Coolly impassioned, THE BRIDE STRIPPED BARE tells shocking truths about love and sex. These are the kind of revelations that best friends whisper to each other and then decide to forget they ever revealed. Couched in a deceptively simple style, it will make you question whether it is ever entirely possible to know another person.

About the Author
In the tradition of women writers over the centuries, The Bride Stripped Bare is an anonymous novel. The author decided to conceal her name in order to delve honestly into the heart of women's secret sexual desires and passions. Even her husband was to remain in the dark. But the press were so enticed by rumours about the book that they worked tirelessly to unmask her...

Customer Reviews

Should be given to all young men...
As a relatively young man, I did find this book fairly disturbing, partly because it confirmed what I had observed in the behaviour of my female friends.

I find it interesting, that, like the character in the novel, many women only seem able to be sexually satisifed while exploiting and deceiving others.

It seems more like a piece of fantasy (similar to the Marquis de Sade's books, though from a woman's point of view.)than a realistic portrayal of relationships. Taken in that way, it isn't bad, and, from the point of view of a man is a useful reference about female behaviour.

I would sympathise with the man the central character is married to, however, because she sounds like an awful wife. If this book helps me to understand and avoid such women, it will have been really helpful!

Intense.
This book is a little intense, to say the least. It's about a woman who embarks on sexual adventure to escape from a stuffy marraige. It reads very well and is one I'm going to keep for refrence in the future. I would also recommend "Playtime" (Kim Corum) and any Nancy Friday book, as they are similiar to this one.

thought provoking read
the way this book is written seems strange at first and you may be inclined to put it down, but don't! when you start to familiarize yourself with the style of writing and the very unusual characters the whole thing comes to life. Then just as you never want it to end it finishes in fantastic style.