A New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” and Winner of the Charity Erotic Awards Writer of the Year
Witty, intelligent, and eloquent, The Surrender is an erotic memoir and story of a woman’s unusual path to sexual and spiritual discovery inspired by a powerful exploration of what is perhaps the last remaining sexual taboo, one for which she becomes a compelling advocate. Toni Bentley is the author of five previous books—all of them New York Times “Notable Books”.
“Bentley is writing of her rhapsodic experience with sodomy. So some will call this memoir blasphemous, others spiritual; some pornographic, others erotic. What it is, is wonderfully smart and sexy and witty and moving, a tale of unbounded passion that leads to transcendence…. While deeply serious, Bentley is also hilarious.... Bentley’s honesty about the most intimate of subjects is daring and delightful for those willing to follow her to, so to speak, the end.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Toni Bentley...has taken the radical decision to compose a manifesto for anal sex.... No woman before Bentley has felt quite zealous enough about what she calls ‘emancipation through the back door’ to write an entire book in its praise.... The Surrender is a brave book—although not because it tackles a ‘taboo’ or because it is frank. Its bravery lies rather in its earnest attempt to do justice to the transcendent dimension of a profane act.”—Zoe Heller, The New York Times Book Review
“Hot.”—Newsweek
“Ms. Bentley’s new sex confessional is extraordinary.”—Alexandra Jacobs, New York Observer
“Stylish and amusing...The Surrender celebrates ‘the joy that lies on the other side of convention.’... Enjoyable.... Oddly charming.”—Entertainment Weekly
“I think it might be a small masterpiece of erotic writing. I admired its lucidity, the tone is true and unsentimental, and it’s so natural—the explicitness is so completely unaffected.”—Leon Weiseltier, New York Observer
Toni Bentley danced with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet for ten years. She is the author of five books—all named New York Times “Notable Books”—which include Winter Season: A Dancer’s Journal, Holding on to the Air (the autobiography of Suzanne Farrell written with Toni Bentley), Costumes by Karinska, Sisters of Salome, and The Surrender: An Erotic Memoir. She was the recipient of a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship and her essay, “The Bad Lion,” (originally published in the New York Review of Books) was selected by Christopher Hitchens for Best American Essays 2010.
Witty, intelligent, and eloquent, The Surrender is an erotic memoir and story of a woman’s unusual path to sexual and spiritual discovery inspired by a powerful exploration of what is perhaps the last remaining sexual taboo, one for which she becomes a compelling advocate. Toni Bentley is the author of five previous books—all of them New York Times “Notable Books”.
“Bentley is writing of her rhapsodic experience with sodomy. So some will call this memoir blasphemous, others spiritual; some pornographic, others erotic. What it is, is wonderfully smart and sexy and witty and moving, a tale of unbounded passion that leads to transcendence…. While deeply serious, Bentley is also hilarious.... Bentley’s honesty about the most intimate of subjects is daring and delightful for those willing to follow her to, so to speak, the end.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Toni Bentley...has taken the radical decision to compose a manifesto for anal sex.... No woman before Bentley has felt quite zealous enough about what she calls ‘emancipation through the back door’ to write an entire book in its praise.... The Surrender is a brave book—although not because it tackles a ‘taboo’ or because it is frank. Its bravery lies rather in its earnest attempt to do justice to the transcendent dimension of a profane act.”—Zoe Heller, The New York Times Book Review
“Hot.”—Newsweek
“Ms. Bentley’s new sex confessional is extraordinary.”—Alexandra Jacobs, New York Observer
“Stylish and amusing...The Surrender celebrates ‘the joy that lies on the other side of convention.’... Enjoyable.... Oddly charming.”—Entertainment Weekly
“I think it might be a small masterpiece of erotic writing. I admired its lucidity, the tone is true and unsentimental, and it’s so natural—the explicitness is so completely unaffected.”—Leon Weiseltier, New York Observer
Toni Bentley danced with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet for ten years. She is the author of five books—all named New York Times “Notable Books”—which include Winter Season: A Dancer’s Journal, Holding on to the Air (the autobiography of Suzanne Farrell written with Toni Bentley), Costumes by Karinska, Sisters of Salome, and The Surrender: An Erotic Memoir. She was the recipient of a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship and her essay, “The Bad Lion,” (originally published in the New York Review of Books) was selected by Christopher Hitchens for Best American Essays 2010.
