The Ironwood Reader

In this book we find the narrator, James, a 20's something young man, tainted by the idle life of the rich, summoned to a school for young girls, Ironwood, located, of course, in a secluded backwoods. James, Being the black sheep of his family on the verge of being disinherited by his family, jumps at the chance to go to Ironwood at the behest of his rouge uncle to take up a position that is the fantasy of young men. The school, run by Cora Blasingdale, is dedicated to collecting very young girls for training as houskeepers, (for the ugly ones) while the rest are well trained, highly submissive, sexual partners for the wealthy. James, being the only male at the school, is very quickly introduced to the gentle teaching methods of the matrons that the reader could describe as S/M with fur gloves .... Although James does get to taste the forbidden fruit at the school, most of the sex scenes are adolescent and rarely finish in what would be expected in an adult sexual encounter. That frustrating fact notwithstanding, I did finish the book surprised that the author managed to maintain my attention while other books of the same genre would have had me screaming after the fifth spanking of the young charges.

Unlike the another reviewer here, I don't consider a work of erotica on the same terms as, say, the latest bestseller. I don't consider it in light of a classic by DH Lawrence either, although the setting and mood of Ironwood could be more readily compared to something by Lawrence.The point is, whether one judges a book of erotica in literary terms or not, the bottom line is that one reads erotica to become aroused. If the subtlties of style and how well the writer has dealt with the cliches of the trade matter to you, you should pay close attention to the other review.