‘English women have a reputation for being reserved and uptight; actually behind closed doors we’re outrageous.’

In the 700 years that books have been published in England, there has not been one that invites women to talk about what they want from sex. Wendy Jones thought it was about time someone had the courtesy to ask.

So she went out with a tape recorder and spoke to twenty-five women from all walks of life: a wealthy suburban housewife, a former prostitute, a feminist into BDSM, a covered Muslim, a transsexual, a woman in her nineties who remembers the sexual freedom of wartime, a gynaecologist. They talk about their lives, families, partners, bodies and sexual histories, about what they have learnt, how they have been hurt, what they enjoy and what they long for.

The interviews are frank, engaging and sometimes suprising. Each woman is unique but together, perhaps, they speak for a majority. For the first time since Nancy Friday, women are talking about what they want. And it’s time we listened.