Fanny Audiobook By Erica Jong cover art

Fanny

Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones

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Fanny

By: Erica Jong
Narrated by: Nicola Barber
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Discovered on the doorstep of a country estate in Wiltshire, England, the infant Fanny is raised to womanhood by her adoptive parents, Lord and Lady Bellars. Fanny wants to become the epic poet of the age, but her plans are dashed when she is ravished by her libertine stepfather. Fleeing to London, Fanny falls in with idealistic witches and highwaymen who teach her of worlds she never knew existed. After toiling in a London brothel that caters to literati, Fanny embarks on a series of adventures that teach her what she must know to live and prosper as a woman. Soon to be a major Broadway musical.

©2003 Erica Jong (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Fiction Historical Fiction Romance England

Critic reviews

"A rollicking tale...a tour de force." ( Newsweek)
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This book is one of my all-time favorites! I have read it a bunch of times and now I listened to it and the narrator was the absolute best! I found myself laughing out loud while driving or doing whatever I was doing. So so good!!

My favorite book!

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This book was definitely different. It depicts many different *acts* that may appeal to some individuals and not to others. I don’t mind the graphic details and enjoy erotic novels but this one didn’t have much depth

Kinky, trigger warning: rape, beastiality, and more

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this is the story of a strong woman, written by a strong woman. and is an inspiration to all women to live their own lives as they see fit.

story of a strong woman

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“What if Tom Jones had been a woman? What if Fanny Hill had been as witty as she was sensuous? What if Moll Flanders had been as tenderhearted as she was tough?”

—Erica Jong

Written as an answer to Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known as Fanny Hill) by John Cleland, the first English language pornographic novel, Fanny is an extensively-researched novel of adventure and debauchery.

Jong, after Fear of Flying, was criticized as a woman writer who wrote about sex and was accused of heaving "loose morals." She decided to write a novel, using her M.A. in 18th century English literature, from the point of view of a similarly-maligned heroine.

Jong brings a poet’s spirit to everything she writes, and here she deftly assumes the episodic, ornate writing style of eighteenth century novels— while bringing a sly understanding of women’s psychology absent from the books of the time.

Abandoned on the doorstep of an English manor, Fanny is brought up by the manor’s Lord and Lady. When she develops into a comely lass, she is “ravished” by her stepfather and runs away. What follows are a series of adventures showing the different strata of English life at the time and an intellectual, sensual coming of age story.

What if Tom Jones Had Been a Woman?

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The reading of this was excellent, and the book is well written. I wish I could have better enjoyed such a female-centric novel, but cringed at bits that did not age so well. The author chose to make her characters progressive for their time in race relations, but still used awful language for Indigenous Peoples- and one of the heroic figures was never questioned for how her wealth depended on slave labor, among other things, despite this being a central theme. I wound up disliking the main characters by the end of the book- not because of the author's failure to write well, but because of their development arc. I found the transphobic comments distracting. It hampered my enjoyment of the novel. I was sad to have been so disappointed.

Stellar reading, the story could have aged better

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