cover image The Happy Hooker: My Own Story

The Happy Hooker: My Own Story

Xaviera Hollander. Harper Paperbacks, $13.99 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-06-001416-2

Xaviera Hollander has been writing a Penthouse column for 30 years. She chronicled her life as a ""high-class New York madam"" in 1972's The Happy Hooker: My Own Story, which now returns to print. Frankly discussing lesbianism, bondage, voyeurism and run-ins with lawyers and the FBI, Hollander's book was an international bestseller. In her new epilogue, Hollander rather questionably attests that although her stories may not be as shocking or taboo now as they were in 1972, ""the business of sex [has] a new relevance"" since September 11. Regan Books will also publish Hollander's new memoir, Child No More, in June (a review will run in an upcoming issue).