8 of the best novels about sex, lust and obsession

If you’re hungry to read a novel that’ll inject your life with some much-needed excitement, we’ve rounded up a selection of brilliant books, new and old, which centre around all-consuming desire, love, sex and obsession. From a modern classic by André Aciman to a dirty, depraved read from Alison Rumfitt, here are the best titles to explore if you’re dying to feel something.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, ANDRÉ ACIMAN (2007)

Set in northern Italy in 1983, Call Me By Your Name centres around the ill-fated romance between 17-year-old Elio Perlman and Oliver, the 24-year-old graduate student who comes to lodge with Elio’s family for one fateful summer. The novel details Elio’s gradual descent into head-scrambling lust: on one occasion he smells Oliver’s swimming trunks before putting them on and masturbating; on another he fashions a sex toy out of a half-eaten peach (which Oliver subsequently eats). Few other novels have captured the ways in which desire can drive you mad – especially when you’re a hormonal teenager experiencing the heady rush of infatuation for the very first time – as faithfully as this. 

ALL FOURS, MIRANDA JULY (2024)

Miranda July’s auto-fictional novel All Fours follows the story of a semi-famous multidisciplinary artist who embarks on a continent-spanning road trip to New York, leaving her husband and child at home in Los Angeles. But after mere minutes on the road, the unnamed narrator turns off the freeway and checks into a dingy motel. There, she meets a man named Davey, who she soon begins to harbour intense, all-consuming feelings for. But All Fours isn’t merely a novel about an extramarital ‘affair’: it’s about the power and liberation of letting yourself succumb to fantasy.

NORMAL PEOPLE, SALLY ROONEY (2018)

If you’re (somehow) unfamiliar, Sally Rooney’s sophomore novel Normal People follows the relationship between two Irish teenagers, Marianne and Connell, as they make the transition from high school to university. Though the pair have an intense, powerful bond, both are maddeningly awful at communicating with one another, leading to a number of painful and needless misunderstandings. Normal People is a gripping study of two people who just can’t seem to quit one another; it’s easy to see how this book catapulted Rooney to international fame.

ACTS OF DESPERATION, MEGAN NOLAN (2021)

It’s obvious that the couple at the centre of Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation are doomed from the start. The novel’s unnamed narrator is an alcoholic university dropout living in Dublin, who first meets cold, calculating Ciaran at a party. He’s cutting and cruel about her overreliance on drink and refuses to stop emailing his beautiful Danish ex; she, for her part, worships the ground he walks on and is pathologically incapable of standing up for herself. It’s a painful, triggering read for anybody who has ever found themselves in total thrall to a man and willed themselves to overlook a sea of red flags – but one that will deeply, deeply resonate.

BOY PARTS, ELIZA CLARK (2020)

Eliza Clark’s debut Boy Parts is a dark psychological thriller which follows 28-year-old erotic photographer Irina as she obsessively scours the streets of Newcastle for men to lens. She’s an out-and-out sadist with violent fantasies about hurting men: one on occasion she penetrates a man with a wine bottle; on another she ties one up and tortures him with a knife. But Irina is by no means a straightforward ‘villain’, and Boy Parts is not merely a provocative read about taboo sex: it’s also a thoughtful exploration of gender, art, trauma, desire, and power.

BRAINWYRMS, ALISON RUMFITT (2023)

Brainwyrms opens with protagonist Frankie narrowly avoiding a terrorist attack carried out by a transphobic extremist at the gender identity clinic where she works. Shortly afterwards she meets the young, submissive Vanya at a sex club, and the two begin an intense sexual relationship. But things quickly turn dark as Frankie inches closer to discovering that Vanya is harbouring a dark, disgusting secret. Fair warning: Brainwyrms is not for the faint of heart – but if you can stomach extreme body horror, it’s absolutely worth a read.

THE GRADUATE, CHARLES WEBB (1963)

When we first meet Benjamin Braddock, the eponymous protagonist of Charles Webb’s The Graduate, he’s as directionless as a 21-year-old can be. Ben is wiling away his post-graduation days languishing in his father’s swimming pool and fielding off suggestions that he should pursue a career in “plastics” when he meets Mrs Robinson, one of his parents’ friends. The two begin an affair, spending clandestine evenings at the glamorous Taft Hotel – but before long Ben falls for Mrs Robinson’s daughter Elaine, after being pressured to take her out by his parents and her father. A classic for a reason, The Graduate is a lively exploration of the ways in which desire can derail your life.

THE SHARDS, BRET EASTON ELLIS (2021)

The Shards is an auto-fictional novel from Bret Easton Ellis set in 1980s Los Angeles. The protagonist – Bret – is a rich, bisexual 17-year-old enrolled at Buckley College, an exclusive Los Angeles prep school, where his peers are the children of affluent Hollywood hotshots. So far, so true to Ellis’ real life. But then Ellis introduces a fictitious serial killer into the mix, who begins stalking Bret and his friends. The Shards is palpably in keeping with Ellis’ oeuvre, so expect plenty of graphic sex and eroticised violence.