‘The Woman who Asked’ is Gail Iris Rosslee’s fast-paced, erotic novel about psychological manipulation. Gazelle and Thurman’s relationship is one that all their friends admire. Until everything changes. Thurman agrees to Gazelle’s request to explore her unconventional desires, and their relationship comes under threat by the desire of another woman, Liana,
Thurman’s endurance, anger and vulnerability are stretched to the limit, as all three of them are thrown into the devastatingly dark territory of sexual tension, guilt, fear and ruthless vindictiveness.
We damage each other. Not that we mean to. Or choose to. It’s almost a condition of human life. Even with love and generosity, we blindly blunder into hurting one another. Our choices bump and push in directions we could not imagine or wish. Gazelle and I would never have chosen to hurt each other the way we did.
One fateful act has the power to bind us to a trajectory from which there seems no possibility of deviation. Life seems at times involuntarily mapped out after the initial choice – decided – no matter what damage and violence it leads to. It took only one careless, trivial step to fuse the first messy knot. One capricious, self-indulgent act, the precursor that spun off, trussing the strands of all our lives into a savage snarl of betrayal and destruction.
Together, we created our convoluted, chaotic reality. I cannot place the blame for what ultimately happened solely on Gazelle’s shoulders. We share responsibility. Together we were sucked into this quagmire. Gazelle thought she could analytically study herself and her responses as if the nature of what she was doing was separate from us. But she couldn’t.
And when it was all finished, I was left with a sense of inner disintegration. A physical hollowness in the gut. A collapsing of my very being. I continue to move almost mindlessly through the necessary daily actions that make up my life, but everything seems dull and grainy, like an old photograph of people whose identity and significance have been forgotten.
I knew from early on what was happening for Gazelle – simply because she told me – in her usual direct and honest way.
Because of this openness, I think I know as much about her as anyone can about another. Gazelle seldom kept anything from me. Why should she, when, for her, the things she decided to do were legitimate and reasoned? Our relationship was never based on needy lack of self-esteem. We approached each other as equals who loved and appreciated each other’s strength, independence and intelligence. Of course, she was not always easy to live with. We’d been together for about ten years. Maybe I wasn’t paying her enough attention at the time – maybe she just needed someone to feed her craving for adoration.
I was at home asleep, when it started … this whole disastrous saga. Gazelle had gone out. One of her friends … an ex-student … had hooted from the driveway and Gazelle had given me a quick kiss and flown out of the door. Four women were going to have dinner at a popular Portuguese restaurant.
'The Woman who Asked' is available from Amazon.
Here are some reviews:
A gem of a book. Each twist and turn surprises the reader. It is true to its description of an erotic psychological thriller and does not disappoint. The author has written a gripping tale with realistic believable characters.
Well, just to let you know that you have been responsible for me spending almost the whole day in bed today, mesmerised by your book! I must say that it is really great – and gets better and better as it gets towards the end – and the sting in the tale was brilliant. The tension and psychological aspects are just so beautifully depicted, and it is so clever on so many levels. Thoroughly enjoyed it – despite the impending sense of doom and disintegration from the first sentence.
Just wanted to let you know about another recently published South African erotica author, Gail Iris Rosslee. Her book is called The Woman who Asked (published Dec 2012). It is a psychological erotic thriller that is totally gripping. It is absolutely beautifully written, her imagery is stunning, and she has a wonderful command of English.
Excellent psychological novel with well built tension, excellently written sex scenes and good characterisation.
I chose the rating because once I started reading I was immediately aware of the crisp writing, excellent English and the way the book takes hold of you as the story unfolds. The sex scenes are extremely well written and erotic without falling into the "mommy porn" trap or the simply mechanical descriptions, as one finds so often in popular literature. The characters are believable and the evolution of the plot very realistic. The book is easy to read because it really flows, yet it captures quite deep psychological aspects of the characters without being laborious. I look forward to reading this writer's next book.