The Companion by Michelle Knight is the first instance of the Submissive Heart series. The Companion was originally written in 2005 as a screenplay script. Due to lacking attention of producers, Michelle Knight reworked it to a book again. She warned me before reading, because the BDSM scene is not my cup of tea. However, The Companion, is situated in that scene, it still is a love story, actually. The main character, Susan, is desperately seeking freedom and love. A friend introduces her to the BDSM scene, research convinces her to have a submissive heart and receptive for role playing.
Mark, her Master, still wrestling with the loss of his previous servant, ‘K’, now leads Susan, renamed as ‘L’ through a rite de passage. The intensified punishment and pleasure, pain and submission have severe consequences. Susan losses her job. She’s unwilling to listen to her friend Kate’s advice. Michelle Knight lets her readers guess for the next step. The plays can lead to death, intervention by the police, or another unexpected twist.
Though several role plays and scenes are made explicit, it’s balanced with more emotional and rational questions on freedom, companionship, giving up control and caring. The fine line between what’s expected and what’s not of both masters and servants, what’s played and what are real emotions are elaborated well.
About the author
Michelle Knight has a career in IT, spent a couple of years working in Europe. Now living with her mother in Sussex, in the UK, Michelle Knight devoted her life to her passions: writing, photography, music, computers and a host of other things. She had short stories published in 1995 and released her first book in 1996 because she thought outside the box and had the audacity to ask a publisher what they were short of. She was a BDSM submissive for a while and has decided to return to writing in an effort to give her audience a taste of her experiences, “in the scene,” and some of the realities facing those who live this lifestyle, in present day British society. In the Submissive Heart series, The Companion‘s successor, The Reluctant Leader, is out. The third instance is almost finished.
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