Helen and Desire

How difficult it is to explain! The terribly mute hunger in our bodies! If I touch my thigh here in the near darkness of the tent my whole body is again instinct with the driving urge that brought me here, and I cannot explain it. As always, it is stronger than fear. For me it has always been that way…When the irrepressible Helen runs away from the small town she grew up in, she discovers a world of excitement and experience beyond even her imagination, from Sydney to Singapore, Bombay, Monte Carlo and the Sahara desert. A subversive and deeply suggestive masterpiece, “Helen and Desire” is Trocchi’s greatest erotic novel.

Reviews of Helen and Desire

* An extraordinary novel, which celebrates sexuality against a background of feminine identity and liberation. An underground book for too long, it deserves a wider public and will add a lush frisson to the renewed interest in Trocchi — Edwin Morgan * Trocchi's development of character and story is handled with great sensitivity and really does merit your attention – this is the work of a gifted wordsmith. Scottish Book Review * A spicily pornographic tale – Trocchi has a keen eye for the absurdities of the genre. The tale is also enhanced by an elegant and intelligent introduction by Edwin Morgan. The Scotsman * The outlaw prince of Scottish literature, Trocchi set the standard for all subversives and saboteurs – Helen & Desire has a sophistication unusual for its "porno" genre — James Campbell The Guardian