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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A woman writes a story for her married lover. Something she always thought of as a fairy tale. A fairy tale with a dark side, like the best of fairy tales...'
'Occupied France, 1943. France's most shameful hour. In these dark times, Dominique starts an illicit affair with a distinguished publisher, a married man. He introduces her to the Resistance, and she comes to have a taste for the clandestine life - she has never felt more alive. Shortly after the war, to prove something to her lover, she writes an erotic novel about surrender, submission and shame. Never meant to be published, Story of O becomes a national scandal and success, the world's most famous erotic novel. But what is the story really about - Dominique, her lover, or the country and the wartime past it would rather forget?
'From one of our foremost writers, the acclaimed and multi-award-winning Steven Carroll, comes O, a reimagining of what might have been, the story of a novel that took on a life of its own and mirrored its times in a way the author never dreamt of.'
Source : publisher's blurb
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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‘Rolling Over so Easily’ : Steven Carroll’s Take on Story of O
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 430 2021; (p. 31)
— Review of O 2021 single work novel'On the back cover of O, we learn that the protagonist of the novel, Dominique, lived through the German occupation of France, participated in the Resistance, relished its ‘clandestine life’, and later wrote an ‘erotic novel about surrender, submission and shame’, which became the real-life international bestseller and French national scandal, Histoire d’O (1954). ‘But what is the story really about,’ the blurb asks, ‘Dominique, her lover, or the country and the wartime past it would rather forget?’' (Introduction)
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Master Class
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20 February 2021; (p. 14)
— Review of O 2021 single work novel
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Master Class
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20 February 2021; (p. 14)
— Review of O 2021 single work novel -
‘Rolling Over so Easily’ : Steven Carroll’s Take on Story of O
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 430 2021; (p. 31)
— Review of O 2021 single work novel'On the back cover of O, we learn that the protagonist of the novel, Dominique, lived through the German occupation of France, participated in the Resistance, relished its ‘clandestine life’, and later wrote an ‘erotic novel about surrender, submission and shame’, which became the real-life international bestseller and French national scandal, Histoire d’O (1954). ‘But what is the story really about,’ the blurb asks, ‘Dominique, her lover, or the country and the wartime past it would rather forget?’' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2022 longlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Literary Fiction / Poetry Cover designed by Jon Gray.
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cFrance,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1943