Lovers XXX

* A COSMOPOLITAN BEST SUMMER READ * 'I'm in awe'
Coco Mellors, author of Blue Sisters 'Devastating and alluring'
Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually 'Impossible to put down'
Madeline Cash, author of Lost Lambs 'Smart, sad, sexy'
Philippa Snow, author of It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do To Be Me
_____________________________ Los Angeles, 1982. Best friends Jude and Winnie are eighteen and working at a strip club. Soon they progress to modelling for Penthouse and Hustler, then to shooting hardcore porn. Dazzled by the drugs, sex and parties their new life offers, they are also beset by sexism, bitter competition and the precarity of life on the margins. When their friendship ends in recrimination and a dramatic act of betrayal, Jude goes missing and Winnie can find no trace of her.
Thirty years later, newly divorced and down on her luck, Winnie is ready to face her past. Determined to solve the mystery of what happened to Jude, she sets out to brave the dark underbelly of the adult industry. What follows is a gutsy, propulsive look at sex and power that builds to an unforgettable revelation about love.
_____________________________ PRAISE FOR LOVERS XXX 'Allie's writing possesses a rare combination of deep compassion, prescient insight, and just plain coolness that I'm in awe of.' Coco Mellors, author of Blue Sisters 'Lovers XXX is Persona set in the 80s porn world - thrillingly literate; thrillingly sleazy.' Lili Anolik, author of Didion and Babitz 'You're thrown right into Lovers XXX and it doesn't stop. Allie writes about desire, survival, intimacy and exploitation with a kind of feral tenderness. She turns stick-ups, strip clubs and motel rooms into a fever dream that makes ruin look romantic. Impossible to put down!' Madeline Cash, author of Lost Lambs 'Exciting and gritty without feeling lurid, and a moving ode to the value of a female friendship. It's a knockout.' Publishers Weekly 'A propulsive and surprisingly tender novel.' Grazia 'An extraordinary, sordidly exciting, fascinating and original story . . . biting but archetypal, sleazy and uneasy, dangerous and ambitious.' Bidisha 'Smart, sad, sexy, and at times surprisingly sweet . . . it casts a humanising spell, transforming the women at its centre from mere naked flesh into something more like real flesh and blood.' Philippa Snow, author of It's Terrible the Things I Have To Do To Be Me 'Pulsing and propulsive, Lovers XXX is a fever dream and love song.' Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters

Allie Rowbottom is the author of the debut novel Aesthetica, named a best book of 2022 by NPR, Glamour, and Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Editors' Choice memoir Jell-O Girls. Her reported piece, "Are We All Technosexuals Now?" was the lead story for the 2024 New York Times Style Section Valentines Day feature. Her short story "He Dreams About the Bunny Ranch," published by Alta Journal, was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in fiction in 2023. Other essays and short fiction can be found at Vanity Fair, Elle, NY Tyrant, The London Times, Forever Mag, Florida Review, Gulf Coast and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston and lives in Los Angeles.