In The Red Room the reader may recline with this sumptuous collection of unabashed polished poetry and prose in which are explored both the vivid and the more subdued contours of the female sensual landscape. The wife, the mother, the mistress, the daughter. Every generation of woman has her say. Every mode of physical expression granted. The passion. The patience. The fear. And the hatred... Voicing those questions, those desires which convention has tamed out of the 'good' female, Joan Barbara Simon and her chorus of eloquent, critical protagonists dare to sidestep propriety in their search for sincere personal fulfilment and redefinitions of the intimate experience. 'Surprising literary maturity.' WASAFIRI