The Bride Stripped Bare and With My Body

The Bride Stripped Bare and With My Body

The Bride Stripped Bare was a publishing phenomenon when it first hit the bestseller charts nearly a decade ago. The original erotic sensation has since become a hit all over again on E. L. James's home turf.

It is currently top ten in the Amazon UK bestseller charts; the follow-up, With My Body, is also riding high in Britain in the top twenty.


THE BRIDE STRIPPED BARE

An explosive novel of sex, secrecy and escape. On her honeymoon, in the heat and shadows of sultry Marrakech, a conventional young wife makes a shocking discovery. Although confused by her husband's betrayal, she finds it gives her the freedom to explore her deepest desires and rediscover the true self she has kept hidden from view so long.

But her new life is clouded by complication and the raw desire that threatens to overwhelm her. She finds herself torn between the need for her husband and her yearning for something more. The Bride Stripped Bare is the story of a woman whose powerful awakening is as erotic as it is dangerous.

The Bride Stripped Bare
Harper Collins Australia
Author: Nikki Gemmell
ISBN: 9780007163540
Price: $15.99



WITH MY BODY

"There's something incredibly erotic about a woman-" his voice drops into breath, he can barely say it, "-bound. Hidden," he continues. "Wrapped. Think of Heloise and Abelard. Unwrapping themselves, all their clothes, their known lives - for each other, no one else. The cheongsam … will you wear it? For me?"
You nod your obeyance …

You remember a man whose only pleasure was in giving. You escape from the drudgery of married life in the memories of that first affair, with a man who thrilled you with desire. Who asked you to try everything in a quest to find the extremes of your love. The story of an education in love with the most compelling hero since Christian Grey; discover passion reawakened in With My Body...

The Bride Stripped Bare
Harper Collins Australia
Author: Nikki Gemmell

ISBN: 9780732289720
Price: $15.99


Nikki Gemmell is the author of four novels, including the international bestseller The Bride Stripped Bare. She lives in London with her family.

Interview with Nikki Gemmell

Question: How does it feel to have Tony Abbott as a fan of your book, The Bride Stripped Bare?

Nikki Gemmell: It's kind of delicious and a little discombobulating, I must admit. He also really enjoyed Bride's recent followup, With My Body, and in fact recommended it to his daughter as a good Aussie read to take overseas with her. All this was a huge shock to me - I didn't expect a man like him to be "into" my writing one bit. It's extremely honest, in terms of a woman's psyche; excruciatingly so. But if it helps him understand what women really want then I'm all for it. I wrote the books to gently "teach" men, as much as anything; to illuminate them in terms of what their partners may be really, actually thinking.


Question: Why did you originally decide to write the erotic novel?

Nikki Gemmell: I wanted to write a powerfully heartfelt book about a woman's secret thoughts - all those things she may think but never actually talk about, with anyone. I couldn't help but write about the erotic in that respect. I was also interested in connecting viscerally with the reader. Erotic fiction can do that - if it's written in the right way. Think of the potency of that slim little tome, "Story of O". I think women are much better at writing sexual scenes than men. We're willing to be ego-less, and honest in a way that man aren't. We also know how to turn a woman on! Ie what really works.


Question: Do you still wish the book had been published anonymously and nobody knew you were the author?

Nikki Gemmell: I wished this for many years with Bride, but as I've aged, and the world has aged with me, I'm fine with it now. I've loosened, lightened; something I think is part and parcel of galloping into middle age. You let go of so many things, not least that very careful persona you spent years developing in the twenties and tried so fiercely for so long to hold on to.


Question: Your books are being enjoyed by a new generation, what's the one thing you'd like to say to them?

Nikki Gemmell: Never forget the potency in being honest - and finding your voice. I've found my books have appealed across the generations because of the truth in them - women of all ages have related. They're about vulnerability as much as anything, the raw underbelly of a woman's psyche.

Question: Where does the main inspiration for your stories come from?

Nikki Gemmell: Life! I'm a lookaholic, and constantly have my notebook with me to jot down conversation scraps/observations/ideas.


Question: What's next for you? Will there be another novel (erotic or not)?

Nikki Gemmell: I'm brewing a conclusion to the Bride trilogy - the third in the series that will round the whole saga off. Looking forward to it. It'll be fun!


Interview by Brooke Hunter