What do you think?
Rate this book
Sadopaideia
Sadopaideia is a shocking, explicit, classic tale of Sado Masochism at the heart of English high society. Set in London and the Dorset coast, in an era of English history where corporal punishment was freely dispensed, the characters represent the core principles of disobedience, chastisement and compliance.
How far is too far?
Cecil Prendergast has a problem. He has been selected by Muriel Harcourt and her maid as the third dimension in their relationship. The 'problem' is that Muriel likes to beat Cecil's backside with a bamboo cane. Before long, a new master emerges – and Cecil finally asserts his dominance. Through disciplinary scenes, he wages a war of retribution via stinging pleasure and mutual consent – and punishes Muriel, her maid and Muriel's two nieces in turn.
How far is too far?
Cecil Prendergast has a problem. He has been selected by Muriel Harcourt and her maid as the third dimension in their relationship. The 'problem' is that Muriel likes to beat Cecil's backside with a bamboo cane. Before long, a new master emerges – and Cecil finally asserts his dominance. Through disciplinary scenes, he wages a war of retribution via stinging pleasure and mutual consent – and punishes Muriel, her maid and Muriel's two nieces in turn.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1907
14 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Anonymous
3,418 followersBooks can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:
* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 22, 2014
A classic flagellation novel in the "Victorian" style, and one of the first I ever read. Highly recommended. This genre is simply massive, starting with collections such as "The Pearl" and is the forerunner of modern BDSM. It still continues to this day, mainly in the form of video clips. Anyone doubting the popularity of this genre only has to do a search for "spanking".
There is an innocence and delight in these early novels that is often missing in more modern tales, and I for one find it very refreshing to dip into them every once in a while. The characters see no need for the justification of punishment for misbehavior, or even the desire to dominate. Spanking and caning is simply good clean sexual fun. Bring on the birches!
There is an innocence and delight in these early novels that is often missing in more modern tales, and I for one find it very refreshing to dip into them every once in a while. The characters see no need for the justification of punishment for misbehavior, or even the desire to dominate. Spanking and caning is simply good clean sexual fun. Bring on the birches!
Read
January 11, 2017Repetitive and tiring.
January 25, 2011
I doubt very much this is an authentic work of 1907(or whenever it's reputed to be dated from). The narrative reads too much like a contemporary work; it's just the setting and the costumes that are retro. One of the authors credited for this work, besides "Anonymous", is "Olga Tegora". Hmm...
February 25, 2024
This has to be one of the weirdest books I've read in a while, in this genre at least. Cecil Pendergast is a young man who meets Muriel Harcourt, a young and pretty widow, at a ball and is easily drawn into her relationship with her maid and childhood friend, Juliette. He discovers quickly that Muriel likes to take a cane to her lovers and be the dominant one, but he's having none of it and turns the table on her, taking over the relationship with both women.
When Muriel takes on her two young nieces for a summer, Gladys and Ethel, whose father - Muriel's brother George - warns that they are wilful and need discipline and that he gives Muriel carte blanche to "correct" them, Cecil thinks it a wonderful idea to rent a seaside cottage on the Dorset coast for the summer. There is much spanking, old English boarding-school style, and fondling, kissing, fellatio and so on, and I guess it's a small mercy (but the only one we get) that Cecil doesn't deflower them - though he does take liberties with Ethel in another way, at the very end. Oh, and the discipline does wonders for the girls, of course.
Perhaps you have to be English to understand this preoccupation with disciplinary spanking, because I don't really get it. It's not very sexual at all, and at times, here, it's downright cruel. Corporal punishment was widely and freely used in England at the time this book was written (and not only then), and the undercurrent of sexual thrill that seems to have preoccupied the nation's youngsters is vividly described here. Muriel and Juliette tell the story of how they met at boarding school, and how all the older girls have younger slaves who they would get to pleasure them at night, and who they would punish with a beating for wrongdoing. You learn more in school than subject matter; you also learn human relations, and that is never more clearly spelt out than in Sadopaideia.
There is method to this corporal punishment frenzy, and at times even restraint, but like the previous Forbidden Classic novel I read, The Way of a Man With a Maid, it was all too much and rather bewildering and definitely from a different time, not least in the way it was written and the way people talk in the books. It's almost like a farce. But from a purely disaffected, curious standpoint, it's certainly quite interesting. Just not at all sexy.
When Muriel takes on her two young nieces for a summer, Gladys and Ethel, whose father - Muriel's brother George - warns that they are wilful and need discipline and that he gives Muriel carte blanche to "correct" them, Cecil thinks it a wonderful idea to rent a seaside cottage on the Dorset coast for the summer. There is much spanking, old English boarding-school style, and fondling, kissing, fellatio and so on, and I guess it's a small mercy (but the only one we get) that Cecil doesn't deflower them - though he does take liberties with Ethel in another way, at the very end. Oh, and the discipline does wonders for the girls, of course.
Perhaps you have to be English to understand this preoccupation with disciplinary spanking, because I don't really get it. It's not very sexual at all, and at times, here, it's downright cruel. Corporal punishment was widely and freely used in England at the time this book was written (and not only then), and the undercurrent of sexual thrill that seems to have preoccupied the nation's youngsters is vividly described here. Muriel and Juliette tell the story of how they met at boarding school, and how all the older girls have younger slaves who they would get to pleasure them at night, and who they would punish with a beating for wrongdoing. You learn more in school than subject matter; you also learn human relations, and that is never more clearly spelt out than in Sadopaideia.
There is method to this corporal punishment frenzy, and at times even restraint, but like the previous Forbidden Classic novel I read, The Way of a Man With a Maid, it was all too much and rather bewildering and definitely from a different time, not least in the way it was written and the way people talk in the books. It's almost like a farce. But from a purely disaffected, curious standpoint, it's certainly quite interesting. Just not at all sexy.
June 21, 2012
Well..... what can I say lol. This is by far a better read than the current sensational Fifty Shades series. I can't say that the topic appeals.... it really is very violent many times over, however that would be what you would expect from a book about the proto-BDSM scene I guess. It's not a bad read and certainly has it's moments lol.
Cecil seems to have an unlikely appeal somehow, but I guess that is due to the nature of the book.
Cecil seems to have an unlikely appeal somehow, but I guess that is due to the nature of the book.
September 4, 2023
I was gifted this for my 20th birthday, now 9 years later finally reading it.
Written by Anonymous in 1904, this story follows a man and his journey into BDSM.
TW; some language used in the book is now considered queer slurs. Non consensual whipping/slapping and rape.
Within the first 5 pages, we get the sense of the man fallen for a Widow turned chaperone for younger females.
Than by twist of fate, she's a Madame of sorts. Though she's isn't described as working in the "oldest profession known by woman", instead she's a respectable woman who enjoys paddling and spanking those who enter her domain.
Involving not just her male interest but also her house maid;whose actually her school sweetheart. one not knowing what his really doing while the other is used to her mistress's "attacks."
Within the first 20 pages, the reader is invested in the world of sadism.
By the time we get to page 100, the story starts to include Nieces, which turns into an adventure of sexually fueled indeceny with a young niece whose too eager and another niece whose filled with lust but ashamed at the same time.
Unfortunately when you get to the last several pages, it does get s bit messy and rushed.
Though unlike the other forbidden books I've read so far, this one doesn't have a storyline but rather a motivate to show how whipping has been a form of pleasure for decades.
Written by Anonymous in 1904, this story follows a man and his journey into BDSM.
TW; some language used in the book is now considered queer slurs. Non consensual whipping/slapping and rape.
Within the first 5 pages, we get the sense of the man fallen for a Widow turned chaperone for younger females.
Than by twist of fate, she's a Madame of sorts. Though she's isn't described as working in the "oldest profession known by woman", instead she's a respectable woman who enjoys paddling and spanking those who enter her domain.
Involving not just her male interest but also her house maid;whose actually her school sweetheart. one not knowing what his really doing while the other is used to her mistress's "attacks."
Within the first 20 pages, the reader is invested in the world of sadism.
By the time we get to page 100, the story starts to include Nieces, which turns into an adventure of sexually fueled indeceny with a young niece whose too eager and another niece whose filled with lust but ashamed at the same time.
Unfortunately when you get to the last several pages, it does get s bit messy and rushed.
Though unlike the other forbidden books I've read so far, this one doesn't have a storyline but rather a motivate to show how whipping has been a form of pleasure for decades.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2025
I don’t think this book is for everyone—and I say that not out of snobbery, but with genuine caution.
Sadopaideia is less about titillation and more about submission, control, and psychological conditioning. Set in Edwardian Oxford, it unfolds with the slow, deliberate pace of old-world prose—ornate, clinical, and detached. The story of Cecil Prendergast’s journey into ritualized submission is described with such composure that it feels more like a dissection than a seduction.
This is not erotica for the modern reader. It’s flagellation literature at its core, where desire is tangled with punishment, and where the line between consent and coercion is murky at best. There's no warmth here—only power, cold and ceremonial.
I wouldn’t recommend this lightly, and certainly not to the sensitive or unprepared. It’s not "dark romance" or fantasy. It’s psychological endurance dressed in literary form. You don’t come to Sadopaideia looking for pleasure—you come out with questions.
For its historical context and the strange gravity it holds, it earns a moderate rating. But this is not a book you read. It’s one you survive.
Sadopaideia is less about titillation and more about submission, control, and psychological conditioning. Set in Edwardian Oxford, it unfolds with the slow, deliberate pace of old-world prose—ornate, clinical, and detached. The story of Cecil Prendergast’s journey into ritualized submission is described with such composure that it feels more like a dissection than a seduction.
This is not erotica for the modern reader. It’s flagellation literature at its core, where desire is tangled with punishment, and where the line between consent and coercion is murky at best. There's no warmth here—only power, cold and ceremonial.
I wouldn’t recommend this lightly, and certainly not to the sensitive or unprepared. It’s not "dark romance" or fantasy. It’s psychological endurance dressed in literary form. You don’t come to Sadopaideia looking for pleasure—you come out with questions.
For its historical context and the strange gravity it holds, it earns a moderate rating. But this is not a book you read. It’s one you survive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2023
got pretty repetitive and i hated how he like 'conquered' the women but omg this was so modern i dont believe this was actually written in 1907 theres no way. but i wished the main guy would just die and it was only about juliette and muriel and i hated how he like turned them against eachother at the start
April 19, 2021
Felsefi ya da edebi bir derinliği yok.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews