MAIDENHEAD

A sure-to-be controversial novel by the author of The Way of the Whore, a modern retelling of the story of St. Mary of Egypt, a prostitute who eventually repented.

Sixteen-year-old Myra, naive and curious, is on a family vacation to the southernmost tip of Florida a mangy Key West full of spring breakers. Here, she suffers through the embarrassments of a family on the verge of splitting up and meets Elijah, a charismatic Tanzanian musician who seduces her at the edge of the tourist zone.

Maidenhead is the story of a young woman's exploration of danger. How does a girl feel scared? What is she scared of? And does telling yourself not to be scared really work? As Myra enters unfamiliar worlds of sex, porn and class war, she explores territories unknown in herself the desperate, wild spaces of a teenage girl's selfconsciousness.

Tamara Faith Berger, former sex columnist for Vice magazine, is known for her challenging writing work focusing on female sexuality, balancing on the thin line between erotica and porn. She is the author of Lie With Me (Gutter Press, 2001), which was made into a film in 2005 and has been shown at festivals all over the world, and The Way of the Whore (Gutter Press, 2005)(published as A Woman Alone at Night in the US by Soft Skull, 2007).