With My Body: A Novel

by Nikki Gemmell

Overview

From the author of the international bestseller The Bride Stripped Bare comes the raw and resonant story of a middle-aged wife and mother who attempts to reclaim her lost sense of self by exploring the memory of an old love affair, the consequences of which have remained unresolved for years. Nikki Gemmell is “one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time” (Time Out New York), and With My Body is a unique and captivating novel. Poetic and boldly, unabashedly sensual, Gemmell’s gorgeous writing and explosive content evoke the seductive power of The Secret Life Of Catherine M, Damage, and The Story of O, but this instant classic bears a modern insight into present-day sexuality and that could only come from the intimate and invigorating voice of Nikki Gemmell.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062122643
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Series:	Bride Stripped Bare
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	498
Sales rank:	449,039
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Nikki Gemmell is the internationally bestselling author of The Bride Stripped Bare and With My Body, as well as Shiver, Alice Springs, and The Book of Rapture. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her family.

Editorial Reviews

Best-known for 2003’s The Bride Stripped Bare (originally published anonymously), Gemmell revisits a woman’s sexual awakening in her tender though occasionally overwrought latest. The novel follows an unnamed, middle-aged, Australian wife and mother of three living in England, whose loving but sexless marriage drives her to reflect on her passionate affair with an older man when she was a teenager. Compellingly written in the second person, the book comprises the protagonist’s own writings to herself as she struggles to make sense of the past. Aided in her reminiscences by a progressive Victorian book for women—given to her and annotated by her lover, Tol, years ago—the narrator recounts their first chance meeting, when, as a teen desperate to escape her icy stepmother, she discovers a run-down manse wherein Tol is busy renovating and writing. Despite his protestations that she stay away, the young narrator persists, and soon a romance blossoms. But suddenly—after declaring his love—Tol disappears, and she’s been wondering what happened ever since. Though Gemmell’s beautiful prose sometimes lapses into melodrama, her gift for storytelling makes this a rewarding read. (June)

Publishers Weekly