A Private Collection

by Sarah Fisher

The chauffeur stood still for a moment, then moved his broad hand up towards the button on his tight uniform jacket. His voice was low and hypnotic.

'I can give you anything you want, Francesca,' he whispered. 'And I think I know what you want.'

Behind an overgrown garden by the sea, a mysterious crumbling mansion harbours a tantalising secret. This fortress of grandeur is home to fading society beauty Alicia Moffat, her inscrutable chauffeur and a remarkable collection of priceless erotica.

Francesca Leeman - a young writer - is commissioned to catalogue this very private collection. She finds her new acquaintances cultured, enigmatic - and a very perverse. In an atmosphere of perpetual stimulation, Francesca finds a strange security in their games of voyeurism and pleasure.

Genres: Erotica

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

There is more than one author with this name.

Reviews

[Mick Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francesca Leeman a young and budding author she has gone to the coast to find the peace and quiet to write her next book. She and a friend of her dead husband had helped her rent the cottage she is living in, and he has also held a flame for Francesca, on an afternoon walk Chris and Francesca. Chris guides her into the remote gardens of what appears to be a large abandoned estate, only to be spied upon by Alicia the elderly, but also beautiful, widow. Alicia likes what she sees and sends her hunk of a chauffeur, Catz, to set up a meeting where Alicia details her plans to sell her husband’s erotic collection of artifacts and write a book on the lives and loves of Alicia and her now dead husband. But we soon learn that Catz does a lot more than drive the car. I read this story many years ago and enjoyed the reread.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read and had me hooked from the first few pages. Well written and constructed and the characters were developed as the book progressed.
I think there was an opportunity missed though when Francesca visited the beach in Chapter 9. I think there could have been more there in the form of self exploration under the sun between the secluded rocky outcrops and then Melissa and the bumbling Gerald could have stumbled across during/after.
I liked the structure of the storyline though and possibly leaves room for follow up books with the same main character.

[Karen Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written erotica novel it tells the story of Francesca Leeman who moves to the coast on the wishes of her sort-of-boyfriend Chris to finish a novel after the death of her husband Paul. Here she meets a recluse, Alicia Moffatt whose goal is to 'set her free'. The book has some steamy, at times cheek blushing scenes, certainly nothing I'd want my mother to know I was reading lol! in Francesca's journey to freedom. Alicia wants her to catalogue and prepare for auction her deceased husband's erotic collection of statues and diaries (hence the title - A Private Collection). Agreeing to the job being offered she meets others, such as Catz the intimidating male servant/chauffeur, Gerard Foxley the auctioneer and Melissa (who becomes a casual lover). Whilst on her discovery she realises that Chris wants more than she does signifying the end of that relationship after he assaults her. By the end we discover Alicia's history and her "journey to freedom" by her husband (and fathers' friend, Edgar; who was an avid collector and diarist of explicit erotica) and she seen the same traits in Francesca that she had when she was younger.
Black Lace novels can be hard to find as they have been discontinued and this is definitely an older story from the 1990's (the internet didn't exist) but regardless it was still a quick read. I had a bit of a gap in between reading dates but I read 160 pages in a day, it just sat half read on my bookshelf during festive season.

[James Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh that was steamy. Nobody finishes a shag with a half hearted expression or disappointment; everybody is fully arroused just by being looked at; all organs are explosions of white heat; it turns out that everybody likes bondage and anal sex really.

[Catalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, this book...excuse me while I mound and grown and...oh where was I? Oh yeeaa...the story entangles very nice with the erotic fantasies! And the fifth star goes to the final, you bloody let me believe in the inevitable happy end, there were the last 2 pages, there wasn't enough paper left to change that, but no...you naughty little author!!

Oh and just a piece of advice: don't take this book with you when you pick your son from school, especially if the school has 99,99(9) Bengali Muslims students:
Mom X: what are you reading?
Me: (still smiling, I slowly turn my eyes from her face to the book in my right hand, my mind searching frenetically for an answer. I try to hide the book under my shawl pretending to liberate my hands to check my phone) Some stories. (I lift my eyes to see her scrutinizing me with some big, big eyes) I read more books at the same time...
Mom X: Yea, me too. I have one downstairs and one upstairs. I read 1984, George Orwell
Me: Oh a classic..
Mom X: Yea, it makes you think! And Sophie's choice!
ME: .... (just happy inside to get out of it clean, it doesn't matter I don't read 1984 and never will, out of principle cause he based his fantasy on false data and created a huge, huge hysteria. Sure it's mostly the readers fault cause they are sheep but well... you get my point!)

[penelopewanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite liked this one. Intriguing play in the relationships of the main characters (Catz, Alicia, Francesca)... resolution was somehow unexpected. Gerald is pretty weird and have trouble accepting the way the others accepted such a creep. Fun anyway.