'One day someone came back from half-term with Delta of Venus, by Anaïs Nin...Well. Well. The book briskly did the rounds, getting tattier and tattier with each reading. Mouths dropped open in shock. Eyes popped with disbelief. Did people really...Did men really want to ...?'

Edited and introduced by India Knight, The Dirty Bits - for girls is an unmissable collection. From zipless action in Fear of Flying to jolly romps with Jilly Cooper; from transgressions with a priest in The Thorn Birds to mischief with Mellors; from a gentle first encounter with 'Ralph' in Forever to anything and everything but gentle in The Story of O. Even Keats, Chaucer and Shakespeare are up for no good, to say nothing of Prince Abdullah and that unspeakable thing with a goldfish in Lace. These are the stories that taught us about sex, volumes pilfered from our parents' bookshelves, books passed girl to girl, hidden in desks, whispered and wondered about.