Soft Core

Paperback Published on: 23/04/2026
Price: £9.99
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In stock
Usually dispatched within 1-2 days
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Bookseller Reviews

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Soft Core
Emotional and grungy; the guts of this story are worth examining.
A solid 3.5 stars. I wavered a lot on my feelings about this book. The first half I really struggled through. It rankled me the way it seemed to be doing t... READ MORE
Bree (@bookshopbree)
Soft Core
Intense, erotic...neurotic
Unquestionably one of my favourite books of the year so far. The tale of Ruth's descent into the underworld of San Francisco's strip clubs and dominatrix d... READ MORE
Innes finlay
Soft Core
Intense and totally compulsive
What a read!!! I could not put down at all! I felt like I was slowly picking away at a hole to peek further inside the life of Baby. It was funny ye... READ MORE
Lizzie Ryan

Synopsis

‘Drew me in like a whirlpool’ NICOLA DINAN

‘A feverish love story’ ANOTHER

‘Hugely enjoyable … dreamlike and erotic’ THE TIMES

‘Romantic, dangerous and sexy’ STYLIST

Highly seductive … and fun as hell!’ TONY TULATHIMUTTE

A rollercoaster of a cult love story following a dancer in San Francisco’s erotic underground.

Baby spends her days with her sweet, cross-dressing, drug-dealing ex-boyfriend, Dino, and every night dancing at Paradise Lost, a strip club where she transforms into whoever her clients want her to be.

When Dino disappears suddenly, Baby plunges headfirst into San Francisco’s shady, erotic underground of dive bars and sex dungeons to find him. She encounters a surreal cast of characters: Simon, a recluse who pays her for increasingly bizarre favours; a suicide fetishist named Nobody; and Emeline, Paradise’s new hire who seems to want to steal Baby’s whole identity, starting with her underwear.

Will Baby manage to find the only man she’s ever loved? Or might her past catch up with her first?

A hottest book of 2025 in Sunday Times Style, Dazed, AnOther and Stylist.

‘A beautiful fever dream’ KRISTEN ARNETT, author of With Teeth

‘Exhilarating … full of verve, drama and detail’NEW YORK TIMES

‘Incredible … the best book I’ve read this year’ STYLIST

‘A wide ride through San Francisco's dark underbelly’ DAILY MAIL

‘For the generation whose life is an endless stream of dead-end Hinge dates’ SUNDAY TIMES STYLE

‘A profound look at sex work and lives unusually lived’ DAZED

Publisher information

  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • ISBN: 9780008670429
  • Number of pages: 352
  • Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 22 mm
  • Weight: 230g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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Soft Core
Four stars!
Soft Core by Brittany Newell is a brutally honest and darkly captivating story of a young woman’s search for herself amid the chaos of the sexual undergrou... READ MORE
The Secret Book Review
Soft Core
Hauntings
In Soft Core, Ruthie goes by several names. She is "Baby" in the club where she strips, "Miss Sunday" in the Dream House dungeon. As she remarks herself, s... READ MORE
Blue Book Balloon
Soft Core
Gloriously, intentionally messy
This is a messy book - gloriously, intentionally, messy - like life, and love, itself. First, I must say that Newell can write: her prose is zippy and smar... READ MORE
Roman Clodia
Soft Core
Interesting with an unreliable narrator
I really enjoyed this book. I bought it on a whim and really glad I did. This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I found it hard at times... READ MORE
Jess T