Lady Chatterley’s Lover and four other racy reads to discover ahead of the ‘censored’ BBC adaptation

Tuning in to the Beeb’s adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s consummate novel on Sunday? Discover these titillating titles first
Richard Madden and Holliday Grainger star in the BBC adaptation
BBC
Liz Connor1 September 2015

There’s less than a week to go before a new adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover hits our living rooms, as the BBC attempts to galvanize the ‘Poldark mania’ that swept the nation earlier this year.

While Richard Madden has already proved his worth as the aloof and brooding Oliver Mellors in early previews of the one-off drama, the BBC has come under fire from disgruntled fans of the book for its 'chaste' approach towards the 1928 novel’s infamously erotic scenes.

But while the raunchiness of the book is under debate on TV, Lawrence's novel still remains one of the nation’s favourite reads - renewed interest in the title has seen sales soar online and at book shops in recent weeks.

Before you tune in to Jed Mercurio’s 90-minute tribute, dust off your original copy of Lady Chatterley’s lover and pull up a seat with these other NSFW tales that have become literary sensations.

Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller

Now known as a masterpiece of American postmodernism, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer was once illegal to sell in the U.S thanks to the writer’s brazen descriptions of the protagonists sexual exploits in bohemian Paris. Broke and unemployed, the rolling narrative takes us through Miller’s days in the French capital as he relies on the kindness of his friends, acquaintances and strangers to stay sheltered. Expect a plot that's equal measures of poetry and profanity.

Couples, by John Updike

Couples focuses on a promiscuous circle of ten couples in the small Massachusetts town of Tarbox, exploring the efforts of its characters to balance the pressures of Protestant sexual mores against increasingly flexible American attitudes toward sex in the 1960s. Written in the latter half of the decade, the book is notorious for its steamy content, but celebrated for its rich post-Kennedy period detail which perfectly captures the character’s journeys through a “post pill paradise” America.

Story of O, by Pauline Réage

Before there was Fifty Shades of Grey, there was Story of O - a tale of sado-masochism in the 1950s that follows a naive and beautiful young photographer who is introduced to a world of sexual submissiveness. It's frequently described as an erotic classic, yet it was written anonymously by a shy, intellectual French woman under a pseudonym in honour of her secret lover. The writer's true identity was not revealed until 20 years ago, when, in an interview with British journalist John de St Jorre, an impeccably dressed 86-year-old intellectual called Dominique Aury acknowledged that the fifties fantasies were hers.

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Delta of Venus, by Anais Nin

One of the first women to publish erotica, Nin is considered one of the pioneering giants of the genre. Despite this, Delta of Venus was published posthumously, after her death, in 1977. Be warned - the fifteen short stories in this volume, written mostly in the 1940s, tackle every taboo going in explicit detail. Not quite a Tube read, but still a glittering cascade of literary lushness worth delving into in your spare time.

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