The Ages of Lulu

At just fifteen years old, Lulu, a "round, hungry little girl," finds that her erotic cravings are already powerfully established when she is seduced by a family friend, Pablo, twelve years her senior. This initial encounter incites the violent power play that drives an adult Lulu through a series of increasingly titillating sexual exploits. Always fascinated by the thin line separating decency and morality from perversion, Lulu gains the courage to explore the darker side of her carnal desires—but as her forays become increasingly desperate, the world of illicit and dangerous sex threatens to engulf her completely.
A groundbreaking novel of sexual exploration, The Ages of Lulu sparked international controversy and was an overnight sensation when it was first published in Spain fifteen years ago. It won the Sonrisa Vertical Prize for erotic fiction, and was made into a film starring Javier Bardem.“A powerful essay into the darker side of female sexuality.” –Booklist


“Carnality, intimacy, shame, and curiosity have made a triumph of this book which almost gave me a heart attack when I read it. Disturbing from head to toe.” –El Mundo


“Grandes has artfully set up a provocative tension between prose that is matter-of-fact and a subject thats anything but, and it leads us into profound questions about the nature of sexuality and the morality of pleasure. Deeply disturbing.” –Seattle Weekly


“Luridly Inventive.” –Publishers WeeklyALMUDENA GRANDES’s Las Edades de Lulu (The Ages of Lulu) won the Sonrisa Vertical Prize for erotic fiction and was made into a film starring Javier Bardem. Grandes’s novel Los Aires Difíciles debuted in the number one spot on Spanish bestseller lists when it was published in 2002, and remained on the lists for five months. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages.