In prose as taut as a whip crack, Susan Winemaker invites us into an unusual and darkly erotic world -- the world of the dominatrix. Swapping the heat of the kitchen for the intensity of the dungeon, Winemaker began a personal odyssey into a subterranean community where the lines between pleasure and pain are blurred beyond recognition. In doing so, she became one of London's most celebrated -- and feared -- Mistresses.
A cruel teacher wielding the cane. A scolding mother wielding a hairbrush. A nasty boss, in a posh suit, punishing a lazy employee. Winemaker played the central part in every fantasy of every man through the dungeon's door -- and time and time again they returned, gluttons for her discipline. She began to learn every trick of the trade and counts among her clients City boys, judges, truck drivers, teenagers and lawyers -- someone from every walk of life united by their desire to be hurt. It was a desire Winemaker became professional at satisfying, and as her status and power grew so did her fee and her clientele. But still there was something missing within the walls of both her home and her dungeon; somebody to complete her. And then she met a handsome, green-eyed swimmer...
Suddenly, there was emergence of the most shocking -- and possibly the most painful -- thing of all: love. One of her many slaves meant something more to her. But it was a dangerous, forbidden passion. Consumed, Winemaker gave in to her emotion and found herself in a relationship with the green-eyed swimmer; suddenly, the games from the dungeon began to creep into her everyday life...could she balance a love affair based on equality and respect with a passion characterised by dominance and humiliation?
Never anything less than shocking, Concertina is a beautifully written and unflinching portrayal of what it means to be in relationships of all sorts; submissive or dominant, kind or cruel, and what happens when private desire becomes a very public passion.
