a Punishment Island for wayward wives. In New Victoria, sex outside of marriage is against the law. Sex Crimes Courts judge offenders and the punishments are severe, including public floggings and hard labor to punish the guilty. When Delila violates the law with a coworker the initial corporal punishment is swift, however, the hard labor she is condemned to is far more than she expected when Degas, the Overseer of an underground brothel, buys her from the State for the duration of her sentence. Delila enters the steamy underworld that her society has condemned, finding that she’s not so much coerced as a willing participant in the deviant sex acts required of her. Any hope of reconciling with the husband she loves looks doubtful. Supremely sensuous, an elemental tale of light and dark, submission and control, passionate love and longing, for readers willing to take a leap into a wilder sexual territory and the extremes of S&M.