School Life in Paris

by Blue Moon Books

In an English boarding school where the curriculum is limited to the development of the girls' "personal charms", 17-year-old Blanche is introduced to the delights of the Lesbian Society. She soon becomes the most apt of all the pupils and attracts the attention of the Countess, who vows to make Blanche "as lascivious as I am, (for) a girl who is very fast attracts men like honey draws flies".

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[John Gilbert]

19th century erotica, sometimes interesting, horrible grammar and editing, totally politically incorrect in today's mores, but sometimes entertaining as the following quote shows (please don't read if you are offended by such writing):

'Then, guiding it to the lips of my glowing nest, I clasped my arms round him, very gently drawing him towards me, thereby causing his bow-sprit to slide very slowly onwards into its haven. Never shall I forget the look of pleasure which now began to overspread his pretty face, when he at last found his manly spade digging in its proper soil.'

I mean really, did anyone ever talk like this, even back then?

[Liralen]

Short notes on a short book:

-For a book that is ostensibly about a raunchy introduction to the Lesbian Society, there is an awful lot of penis.

-Gets a partial pass (in general) owing to the 1897 publication date, but any book that delves (repeatedly, at that) into kiddie-porn territory gets an automatic bottom-of-the-barrel rating.

-The formatting of the ebook version I read was...uh. Well. I promised in tidy last letter to give yotk in account of the me live here... (loc. 168)

-This must have been written by a man, surely? It's so ridiculously male-gazey. At a sort of brothel-slash-sex-club, for example: There are also rooms specially set apart for the vice of " Lesbianism," where only women are admitted, though men are allowed to peep through hidden windows, to watch the obscene movements and poses of the unconscious girls within! (loc. 531)

-Gosh but I'm glad I only paid $1 for this. I think it's safe to say that I'm not titillated by the same things as a man from the 1890s, which is...kind of reassuring, actually.

[Seawood]

An amusingly smutty piece of epistolary filth from 1897, referenced here: http://forbookssake.net/2013/11/11/se... in the context of sex toys and read as part of my ongoing Victorian-era setting research. Contains incest and characters who would be considered far too young by modern standards. "Tamer" than Story of O with less of a dark undercurrent of coercion, but possibly triggering for the aforementioned reasons. Certainly worth a look if you're interested in historical erotica or considering writing a steampunk romance.

[Danielle Long]

Interesting look into what some Victorians thought was sexy. Outdated worldviews included. Lesbian action.