Lovers XXX by Allie Rowbottom

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.

'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'Tackles the sticky subjects of female sexuality, objectification and desire with a smoothness that appears effortless' Coco Mellors, author of Blue Sisters

Format:Hardback 368 pages
Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group
Imprint:Virago Press Ltd
ISBN:9780349019932
Published:4 Jun 2026
Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Weight:612g