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Top 5 books about desire, chosen by novelist Lisa Harding

Lisa Harding is an actor, playwright and author of Harvesting, Bright Burning Things and Cloud Girls

Image: Michael Fenton on Unsplash

Lisa Harding is an award-winning Irish novelist and her new book The Wildelings is out on 24 April. Here she picks five books about desire.

All Fours by Miranda July

A deeply personal, intimate, at times morbidly funny, at other times exquisitely painful account of one woman embarking on a mid-life journey of self-discovery and sexual exploration. An honest, raw and thought-provoking take on the complexities of human desire. 

Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux 

The French writer’s record of an obsessive affair with a Russian diplomat is a compulsive, sexually frank study of a woman in the throes of lust and an overpowering addiction to an unavailable man.

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo 

A riveting true story about the sex lives of three American women. An exploration of desire, heartbreak, imbalance of power, abuse, alongside sexual liberation and infatuation in all its messy, complicated nuance.

Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan

Sagan wrote this controversial short novel about a self-absorbed schoolgirl in 1948 when she was only 18 herself. Set against the seductive backdrop of the French Riviera during the summer, it is a heady exploration of desire, sexual awakening and control.

The Future of Seduction by Mia Levitin

In this compelling work of non-fiction, cultural and literary critic Levitin asks questions about sexual relating and the relationships of tomorrow. Desire emerges as a complex interplay of longing and power, reflecting the dynamics of human connection in an increasingly digital age.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

The Wildelings by Lisa Harding is out on 24 April (Bloomsbury, £16.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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