Soft Core

‘Drew me in like a whirlpool’ NICOLA DINAN

‘A feverish love story’ ANOTHER

‘Hugely enjoyable … dreamlike and erotic’ THE TIMES

‘Romantic, dangerous and sexy’ STYLIST

Highly seductive … and fun as hell!’ TONY TULATHIMUTTE

A rollercoaster of a cult love story following a dancer in San Francisco’s erotic underground.

Baby spends her days with her sweet, cross-dressing, drug-dealing ex-boyfriend, Dino, and every night dancing at Paradise Lost, a strip club where she transforms into whoever her clients want her to be.

When Dino disappears suddenly, Baby plunges headfirst into San Francisco’s shady, erotic underground of dive bars and sex dungeons to find him. She encounters a surreal cast of characters: Simon, a recluse who pays her for increasingly bizarre favours; a suicide fetishist named Nobody; and Emeline, Paradise’s new hire who seems to want to steal Baby’s whole identity, starting with her underwear.

Will Baby manage to find the only man she’s ever loved? Or might her past catch up with her first?

A hottest book of 2025 in Sunday Times Style, Dazed, AnOther and Stylist.

‘A beautiful fever dream’ KRISTEN ARNETT, author of With Teeth

‘Exhilarating … full of verve, drama and detail’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘Incredible … the best book I’ve read this year’ STYLIST

‘A wide ride through San Francisco's dark underbelly’ DAILY MAIL

‘For the generation whose life is an endless stream of dead-end Hinge dates’ SUNDAY TIMES STYLE

‘A profound look at sex work and lives unusually lived’ DAZED

© 2025 Fourth Estate (Audiobook): 9780008670412

Release date

Audiobook: 4 February 2025