The Bedevilments
Will be published approx. on 10. September 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-7384667-8-8 (ISBN)
Description
Right.' She flicked the thin dress straps off her shoulders, then reached behind her back for the zip. 'Let's get started, mister.'
Anthony is barely present in his own life. A failed academic career, a soul-crushing call-centre job, an Alcoholics Anonymous group he resents attending: he's checked out from all of it.
He spends the Sydney summer trying to avoid the sun, and lives only for the evenings when he can visit Emma, a sex worker at a local brothel. It's during these rented hours that Anthony finds brief moments of human connection. He can afford to see Emma maybe once a month, but he can never hold on that long.
Then Emma disappears, and there's nowhere left for Anthony to hide.
By turns appalling, funny and tender, The Bedevilments is an eye-opening story about addiction, sex and anonymity.
Anthony is barely present in his own life. A failed academic career, a soul-crushing call-centre job, an Alcoholics Anonymous group he resents attending: he's checked out from all of it.
He spends the Sydney summer trying to avoid the sun, and lives only for the evenings when he can visit Emma, a sex worker at a local brothel. It's during these rented hours that Anthony finds brief moments of human connection. He can afford to see Emma maybe once a month, but he can never hold on that long.
Then Emma disappears, and there's nowhere left for Anthony to hide.
By turns appalling, funny and tender, The Bedevilments is an eye-opening story about addiction, sex and anonymity.
Reviews / Votes
'Reading this book is like walking through one of those discreet doors that lead to a low-lit room full of barely clothed strangers who act as if they know you, offer you a drink and invite you to sit on a velvet couch. John Gay knows the brothels of Sydney, the way intimacy and anonymity dance there, the mental rasp of urban life meeting fake-silk sheets and body wash, and how forlorn souls seek company in the closest of conjunctions and tidiest of schedules. He knows the desolation of a young man's modern life in gig-economy fragility, and he knows the sweet reek of alcohol coming off lonely skin. Clever, touching and captivating. I worked in brothels and lived in grungey apartments; I've been there myself, but still I couldn't put The Bedevilments down.' Kate Holden, author of In My Skin and The Winter Road'Hardcore, rueful, weirdly romantic; the spirit of Patrick Hamilton presides over this close-up tale of sex addiction in an obsessive world of unforgivable sins and anonymous virtues. A story that refuses to give up on hope.' David Flusfeder, author of Something Might Fall and John the Pupil
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
4 black and white photographs
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-7384667-8-8 (9781738466788)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Gay is the pseudonym of a British writer.