The Destruction of Innocence
The sexual awakening of the young Lord Duncan Gascoigne initially addresses his exploitation by the perverted butler of his uncaring mother. These encounters lead to his experimentation with, and manipulation of, other aristocratic young gentlemen, resulting in his cruel desire for sexual dominance.
His experiences are in marked contrast to the gentle sexual awakening of Lady Emily Smythe. This takes place with her three close, and equally naive, young friends as they explore each other’s innocent and untouched bodies on the eve of their presentation to Queen Victoria. This ceremony marks the commencement of the London Social Season and launches the debutantes’ entry to womanhood.
The ill-fated meeting of these two young people, coming from very different backgrounds, ill-prepares the unworldly Emily for the horror ahead with the cruel and merciless nobleman.
Set in the 19th century, partly in the unsavoury world of the London sex and gambling clubs, and partly with the more genteel activities of the aristocracy, this tale of Victorian life is Sandra Boyle’s debut novel and will certainly leave you wanting more!
www.Amazon.com / www.Amazon.co.uk
My first novel, ‘The Destruction of Innocence’, is about the young, English aristocracy in the mid-19th century. It is a passionate story, mainly about the unrestrained behaviour of Lord Duncan Gascoigne. Love does not play much of a part in this exciting tale, but physical acts of a sexual nature, together with an unsavoury obsession with self-gratification, dominate the storyline to the detriment of everyone else.
I was fortunate enough to be interviewed on regional television, which was a fantastic opportunity to promote my book, but as this is my first attempt at writing a novel, before I proceed with the sequel, I would love to have some feedback.
Underneath the title of my book ‘The Destruction of Innocence’ I am posting free chapters, on which I would love to receive your comments. So far, I have uploaded chapters 1 – 3 and I would be truly grateful to receive any constructive criticism, either on the content of the novel or on my style of writing.
The following reviews were left on Amazon: –
I particularly liked the attention to detail the writer presented
The Destruction of Innocence was a read with a very exciting plot. It has a bit of everything. I particularly liked the attention to detail the writer presented in each and every paragraph of the book! I am very impressed with the quality of the story, especially because it’s the author’s first book.
The story does keep you guessing throughout as it has quite a few unexpected plot twists especially at the end! My favourite part of the book was definitely the second half of the book where I felt I couldn’t put the book down. I am most certainly looking for the sequel, as I can’t wait to find out what happens to the main characters.
A great story line and interesting read. I felt like I was taken back to another time and really felt a great sympathy for some of the characters.
I am looking forward to the next book and can’t wait to see where it will lead! A brilliant first book by Sandra Boyle.
I enjoyed this book. It is the author’s first and I am very impressed by the fine detail. This book took me back in time and the characters are so life-like due to the author’s descriptive writing, a book of intrigue, love and mystery.
Excellent! I will be watching for this author’s second book with eager anticipation.
This book is never going to be a literary masterpiece. Unless it’s the only book you’ve ever read then it’s probably not even going to be the best thing you’ve read. It is however, a gripping tale of lust, jealousy debauchery and many, many, other vices which proves to be a cross between a period bodice ripper and a soft porn novel with a bit of violence thrown in for good measure.
The book definitely gets better as it goes on so if you are the kind of person who doesn’t read beyond the first chapter if not totally gripped you will undoubtedly miss the best part. It’s a hard book to review without giving away the story so I can’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say the author builds the characters and the story line in what is, for a first novel, quite a professional and skilled way.
The story holds together well and flows naturally. There is an incident at the beginning of the book which she has linked beautifully to the end and definitely leaves you wanting more. I do hope that there will be a sequel to this book because it would be great to find out more of what happens to the characters and get to know them better.
All in all this is an excellent first work and definitely worth a read.
Sandra Boyle 