Fanny Hill, John Cleland
Fanny Hill, John Cleland
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Fanny Hill

Author: John Cleland

Narrator: Laura Sears

Unabridged: 9 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Robert Larson

Published: 12/16/2024

Categories: Fiction, Erotica, Romance


Synopsis

Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, is an erotic novel by John Cleland, first published in 1748. The story is narrated through a series of letters written by Frances "Fanny" Hill, a young woman who recounts her tumultuous journey from innocence to sexual awakening in 18th-century London. After the death of her parents, Fanny, originally from a small village near Liverpool, is persuaded by a family friend to seek employment in London.However, upon arrival, she is abandoned and soon finds herself working as a maid for Mrs. Brown, who runs a brothel. Fanny's naivety leads her into a world filled with sexual exploits and complex relationships. She initially resists becoming a prostitute but is drawn into various encounters that awaken her desires.Throughout the novel, Fanny experiences love and betrayal, particularly with a young nobleman named Charles, who becomes her lover. Their relationship is complicated when Charles is sent away, prompting Fanny to navigate life as a kept woman and later as a full-fledged prostitute to survive. The narrative explores themes of female sexuality, societal hypocrisy, and the quest for genuine connection amidst a backdrop of eroticism.

About John Cleland

John Cleland (1709-1789) was an English novelist who is most famous and infamous as the author of Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. He wrote Fanny Hill in two installments while serving time in prison for debt. In 1749, he was arrested for obscenity yet denied responsibility for the novel. The book was not officially published again for one hundred years. However, it continued to sell well and was published in pirate editions. Cleland is also the author of the lesser-known and less well received novels Memoirs of a Coxcomb and The Woman of Honour, as well as The Surprises of Love, a collection of romance tales.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sasha on August 28, 2016

If you've heard one euphemism for penis, you...well, you haven't heard them all. Once you finish this book, then you'll have heard them all. I had more fun reading this porn than I did many other 18-century novels, but that's largely because it's very short; faced with 600 pages of this, and given th......more

Goodreads review by Emily May on August 21, 2012

I'm talking about an erotic novel here, so maybe don't read my review if you tend to get offended by open and frank discussion about sexual acts. Just warning you in advance :) Okay, firstly, this is porn. Just porn. Not a great literary achievement, not something that will sit snug in your mind with......more

Goodreads review by Emma Angeline on July 10, 2021

this book has no business being as funny as it is it’s a metaphor, see a historical reminder that you’ve never done anything original in bed......more

Goodreads review by Fabian on July 08, 2019

All sex acts are unique, beautiful, & uniquely beautiful in the immensely pleasurable "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure." Through the ages, sex has brought wondrous delight to human beings & here is testament of that fortitude over mere convention and the evil forces of repression. This, like the ever-......more

Goodreads review by Jr on June 18, 2020

"The paths of vice are sometimes strewed with roses, but then they are for ever infamous for many a thorn, for many a cankerworm; those of virtue are strewed with roses purely, and those eternally unfading ones. If you do me then justice, you will esteem me perfectly consistent in the incense I burn......more