L’Abbé du Prat was the pseudonym used by the Vicar-General of the Diocese of Nantes. Matthew Sweet is a journalist, broadcaster, historian, and the author of Inventing the Victorians and Shepperton Babylon.

"Oh God! Sister Angelique, do not come into my room; I am not decent right now. Do you think anyone should be caught in my state? I really did think I had closed the door" Sister Agnes was only thirteen when she entered the convent. In this repressive environment, she has spent her time secluded and naive. However, Sister Angelique, at nineteen years of age, is more worldly and proceeds to educate Sister Agnes...So follows a seduction and exploration of female sexual desire. Written in 1683 as a series of dialogues (known as whore dialogues) between the two nuns, Venus in the Cloister shows erotic fiction was popular long before the days of EL James and could be just as titillating. In fact it was considered so shocking at the time in its portrayal of sexual voyeurism and notion of female intimacy, it was responsible for the first trial for obscenity in the United Kingdom. Forget Fifty Shades - a pale imitation of the real thing - and go back to the beginning to read an original tale of eroticism -