Maria Lantos is a postgrad Yale student researching illicit eighteenth-century literature. She's become exceptionally well-versed in the narratives of classic erotic fantasy.

She's also Claudine, an in-demand escort specializing in sexual role play for an elite clientele. Anonymous. Satisfying. And discreet.

Until the tenuous separation between her worlds starts to crack. It begins with the murder of a stranger. It leads to two men who will test Maris' limits of control and awaken her own sexual desires.

As her private nights bleeds into day, Maria will discover the dangerous places that extend beyond the imagination and the secrets that are no longer consigned to the dark.

Claudine combines the pace of a thriller, the deep emotional connection of a romance, and the heat of a beautiful woman's sexual discovery.

The author is a bestselling, international award-winning Canadian novelist whose work has been published in many countries. She's writing under the pen name Barbara Palmer, inspired by the famous seventeenth-century English courtesan and royal mistress.

Barbara Palmer's profile page

"Palmer’s splendid exploration of sensual performance is much a study of erotic literature as it is an addition to the genre… readers will breathlessly follow Maria’s adventures to their satisfying conclusion." - Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review