Pretty Baby

A FINALIST FOR THE 2022 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FOR LESBIAN MEMOIR

'A muscular, canny memoir . . . I couldn't put it down. What a fucking gorgeous book'- Carmen Maria Machado

'Absolutely not to be missed' - Vogue

Chris Belcher appeared destined for a life of conventional femininity after she took first place in an infant beauty contest - a minor glory that followed her around her small, working-class town in rural West Virginia. But when she came out as queer, the conservative community that had once celebrated its prettiest baby turned on her.

A decade later, living in Los Angeles and trying to stay afloat in the early years of a PhD program, Chris plunges into the work of a pro domme. Branding herself as Los Angeles's Renowned Lesbian Dominatrix, she specialises in male clients who want to feel worthless, shameful, and weak - all the abuse regularly heaped upon women for free. But as her profile grows in both academia and in sex work, it seems inevitable that the two will collide . . .

In this sharp and discerning memoir of class, sexuality and academia, we see through eyes of a pro domme-turned-academic how power and desire can be renegotiated - or reinforced.