Gordon

Originally written under a pseudonym, this thrilling novel of passion in post-

World War II London was banned upon its publication in the late 1960s, and is

only now being republished under the author's real name. Edith Templeton

creates an indelible character in the smartly dressed Louisa, a savvy young

woman in the midst of a divorce who meets a charismatic man in a pub and

within an hour has been sexually conquered by him on a garden bench. Thus

begins her baffling but magnetic love affair with, and virtual enslavement to,

Richard Gordon.

Gordon, a psychiatrist, keeps Louisa in his thrall with his almost omniscient

ability to see through her and she, in turn, is gripped by the deep,

unexpected pleasure of complete submission. As they venture further and

further into the depths -- both psychological and sexual -- she begins, for

the first time, to understand her troubled history and the self that has

emerged from it.

In her clean, precise style, with every social nuance and motive exquisitely

observed, Templeton delivers a tightly wound drama, unsparingly forthright in

its description of how this form of love can bring incomparable rapture.

Louisa's unsettling story has more than the ring of truth to it: it is told

with urgency and relish, and its outcome, which leaves Louisa enlightened and

changed forever, is profoundly satisfying.