Was it literature or porn? With sex on nearly every page, it wasn’t surprising this Irish novel was banned for decades. Sebastian Dangerfield is as dirty and unwashed as he is filthy minded.
2. Thrusting Ecstasy: Anais Nin, ‘A Spy in the House of Love’ (1954)
S2 E1: A lot of ridin’: Keane, ‘Two Days in Aragon’ (1942)
10. Murdoch, ‘The Flight from the Enchanter’ (1956): Freaky Foreigners
9. Huxley, ‘Point Counter Point’ (1928): amoral sex
8. Orrie Hitt, ‘Pleasure Ground’ (1961): Babes and Boobs
7. ‘The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk’ (1836)
6. Richard Yates, ‘Revolutionary Road’ (1961): angsty sex
5. Joseph Heller, ‘Catch-22’ (1961)
4. Kathleen Winsor, ‘Forever Amber’ (1944)
Forever Amber is the original bonkbuster, whose commercial success led to Peyton Place (1956) and Riders (1985).
Banned in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Massachusetts as indecent, it sold millions of copies in the 1940s. Restoration England was the perfect backdrop for a lush, romantic romp but does the book deliver smut galore?
