The Bride Stripped Bare: A Novel

THE RUNAWAY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“The Bride Stripped Bare shows us the inside–out of marriage, infidelity, obsession and taxi drivers (I may never take a cab ride in London again). . . . Few books can be both dark and light. This one dances on the edge, and sometimes crosses it, with much satisfaction to be had on either side.”— Valerie Frankel, author of The Accidental Virgin

An explosive novel of sex, secrecy, and escape.

A woman disappears. Her car lies abandoned on a remote bluff; no body is found. Known by her family and friends as quiet and self-contained, she has left behind an incendiary diary chronicling a disturbing journey of sexual awakening.

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. In need of guidance, she finds an unlikely heroine in the anonymous author of a dusty, rare manuscript. Written by a woman in the 1600s, it is a cry from the heart for women to live and love freely. Emboldened, she allows herself to discover 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, Bride Stripped Bare tells shocking truths about love and sex. Couched in a deceptively simple style, its gorgeous, incantatory rhythms will make you question whether it is ever entirely possible to know another person.

A woman disappears, leaving behind an incendiary diary chronicling a journey of sexual awakening. To all who knew her, she was the good wife: happy, devoted, content. But the diary reveals a secret self, one who's discovered that her new marriage contains mysteries of its own. She has discovered a forgotten Elizabethan manuscript that dares to speak of what women truly desire, and inspired by its revelations, she tastes for the first time the intoxicating power of knowing what she wants and how to get it. The question is: How long can she sustain a perilous double life?

“Superbly executed: suspense, psychodrama, anger, tenderness and terror mingle with the restlessness of a vast , overpowering landscape.” - London Times Literary Supplement

“One of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.” - Time Out New York

“A powerful novel that does not flinch from strong emotion or description...luminous.” - London Times

“A jazzy, nonlinear...narrative style as compelling and exotic as the landscape itself.” - Baltimore Sun

“A fierce, white–hot read.” - Booklist

“Unremitting, elegant and dark. I believe every woman should get married at least once, and read this novel twice.” - Suzanne Finnamore, author of Otherwise Engaged

“The Bride Stripped Bare shows us the inside–out of marriage, infidelity, obsession and taxi drivers (I may never take a cab ride in London again)....Few books can be both dark and light. This one dances on the edge, and sometimes crosses it, with much satisfaction to be had on either side.” - Valerie Frankel, author of The Accidental Virgin

“Titillating…like an artful striptease, The Bride Stripped Bare ensnares us with its rawness.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“An intensely honest look at a woman’s inner thoughts and desires.” - Dallas Morning News

“Simply too beautiful...a mesmerizing and disquieting novel that will deserve to be read again.” - Vogue Australia

“Wonderfully sensuous...witty in its construction...a subtle portrait of a modern marriage.” - Independent

“Incredibly raw and brutal...yet written with true grace and beauty. A brave and honest novel that lingered with me for days.” - Jane Green, author of Mr. Maybe and Babyville

“Escapist fiction as its intriguing best. ‘The Bride Stripped Bare’ is sexy with a capital X.” - Jill Davis, author of A Girl’s Poker Night

“Sexual awakening for the dark horse in us all.” - Tatler

“The sex is rude and raunchy and exactly where you want it.” - Elle

“A probe behind the marital mask. For all its focus on the body it is what it says about a woman’s brain, and heart, which is most revealing.” - Melbourne Age

“An erotically charged tale of tragic yearning, The Bride Stripped Bare lingers in memory like one of those heart-stopping dreams filled with eerily familiar strangers.” - Boston Sunday Herald

“Artful…cannily perceptive…this unusual but strangely compelling novel offers an intimate chronicle of change and self-discovery.” - Publishers Weekly