Three Weeks

Three Weeks (1907) By Elinor Glyn Paul Verdayne, young, fresh and foolish, falls in love with a sultry, married woman who inflames his passion and sexual desires. She invites Paul to the luxury suite at their Swiss hotel where they indulge their sins, having sex on a tiger skin Thus begins Paul's sexual awakening, a torrid affair, and a young man's obsession. Banned for obscenity and condemned by religious leaders, author Elinor Glyn's novel became a cinematic masterpiece and template for steamy, bodice-ripping, romance novels. Ms. Glyn's languid writing style mixes Dorothy Parker's wit with Somerset Maugham's exploration of the human condition and suffering. Stylish and artfully crafted, she followed up Three Weeks with a series of erotic books, often involving beautiful, sexually charged women of the highest social standing, dominated by male lovers. Much like her sexy, love-struck heroines, Ms. Glyn has been described as a risqué exotic, flame-haired temptress, too strong-headed to be accepted by more than the fringe of society, who had sexual affairs with various aristocrats. The British-born author later moved to the U.S. where she wrote Hollywood screenplays.