Book excerpt: This book is a naughty, comedic romp through the fields of desire and pleasure in nineteenth-century Spain. At the apex of the triangle is Madam X, flanked by two pursuers, Jonathan and her maid Marie. With tongue in cheek, the author concocts hilariously exaggerated scenes of sexual acrobatics, poking fun at virile prowess, aging femininity, heterosexual hypocrisy and homosexual taboos.