Suzanne Portnoy

‘The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker: An Erotic Memoir’ is my first book. After 44 years I felt I’d reached a stage in my life where I was finally happy and content. I wanted to share my sexual journey with others in the hope that women – and men – of all ages might find comfort in my experiences and even be enlightened.

When it comes to relationships and sex, I’ve made many unconventional choices. I’ve never sat around waiting for Mr. Right to come along. Most women pine for a Prince Charming, and although I have a boyfriend mantra of my own, a kind of wish list on my kitchen bulletin board that says ‘Job, House, Car, Single, Looks’, I’m not ‘making do’ with Mr. Almost Right. (Mr. Right Now, however, is a different story – in fact, there are quite a number of them in my story.) I like having a phonebook full of men who make me laugh and come, but who don’t have the time for, or interest in, a full-on relationship. It keeps life interesting.

A lot of erotic memoirs coming out at the moment are written by women in their twenties. I’m cheered that so many women are scoring – and keeping score. But I question their perspective. I think if you’re not shagging around in your twenties, there’s a problem. And I’ve discovered that if you’re still shagging around in your forties, people think there is a problem. I hope what makes my very diverse sexual experiences more interesting, more relevant to women of all stages in life, is that, having experienced a promiscuous youth, a fairly sexless marriage, and the loss of someone close, I’ve emerged, two decades after my first sexual experiences, more mature, more savvy about men, more sexual. And relieved to discover that ‘mature’ is not a euphemism for ‘old.’ I love my life like never before, and hope you’ll enjoy reading about it as much as I take pleasure in living it.

Suzanne