At 14 Sarah is seduced by her English master and remains permanently infatuated long after he leaves. As a result of the pain from rejection she quite literally fucks her way through the whole book. This is a sad, tough read on underage sex, hard-hitting, thought-provoking and quite startling.
Sarah Clark's life changes forever when her English teacher, Daniel Carr, seduces her after class. Their affair is erotic, passionate and dangerous - a meeting of minds and bodies. But when his wife finds out and he moves to another city with his family, Sarah is heartbroken. She drifts from one meaningless relationship to the next, seeking but never finding what she shared with Daniel. Seven years later, Daniel walks back into her life, and they fall once again into an irresistible spiral of desire, eventually leading her to places darker than she ever imagined she wanted to go.
‘I was very impressed by Taming the Beast… Without being prurient, Maguire heads into extraordinarily dark psychosexual territory, withholding any easy answers’ Independent
‘It’s a bleak, uneasy book, albeit powerfully written. It is also shockingly compelling’ The Observer Magazine
‘An uncompromising look at sex, desire and unrequited love... Carefully narrated, this is a brilliant meditation on sex and power’ City Life
Author
About Emily Maguire
Emily Maguire was born in Canberra, Australia in 1976, but now lives in Sydney, where she works as an English teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (History and English) and a Master of Arts (English).
Her non-fiction has been published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Adelaide Advertiser, The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, Good Reading, dumbo feather and The Glebe.
Emily Maguire's first novel Taming the Beast was described as 'a thought-provoking and searing first novel' in The Age, and was published in the UK by Serpent's Tail and by Brandl & Schlesinger in Australia. Her second novel The Gospel According to Luke was bought by Serpent's Tail in the UK and by Brandl & Schlesinger in Australia.
Emily was awarded an Australian Society of Authors Mentorship in 2003, a Tasmanian Writers' Centre Residency in 2006 and received a Special Commendation in the 2006 Kathleen Mitchell Awards.
