Lovers XXX

A COSMOPOLITAN BEST SUMMER READ 'Devastating and alluring' Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually 'Impossible to put down' Madeline Cash, author of Lost Lambs 'Smart, sad, sexy' Philippa Snow, author of It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do To Be Me 'Tackles the sticky subjects of female sexuality, objectification and desire with a smoothness that appears effortless' Coco Mellors, author of Blue Sisters Los Angeles, 1982: best friends Jude and Winnie are eighteen and working at a strip club. Soon they progress to modelling for Penthouse and Hustler, then to shooting hardcore porn. Dazzled by the drugs, sex and parties their new life offers, they are also beset by sexism, bitter competition and the precarity of life on the margins. When their friendship ends in recrimination and a dramatic act of betrayal, Jude goes missing and Winnie can find no trace of her. Thirty years later, newly divorced and down on her luck, Winnie is ready to face her past. Determined to solve the mystery of what happened to Jude, she sets out to brave the dark underbelly of the adult industry. What follows is a gutsy, propulsive look at sex and power that builds to an unforgettable revelation about love.

Allie Rowbottom is the author of the debut novel Aesthetica, named a best book of 2022 by NPR, Glamour, and Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Editors' Choice memoir Jell-O Girls. Her reported piece, "Are We All Technosexuals Now?" was the lead story for the 2024 New York Times Style Section Valentines Day feature. Her short story "He Dreams About the Bunny Ranch," published by Alta Journal, was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in fiction in 2023. Other essays and short fiction can be found at Vanity Fair, Elle, NY Tyrant, The London Times, Forever Mag, Florida Review, Gulf Coast and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston and lives in Los Angeles.