This was recommended to me by a domme in Canada who raved over it. It appealed to her as she enjoyed the breathtaking and riveting scenes of the dominant females in the story. Ironically it appealed to my submissive side equally... it really is a book like no other as it shares the joys and torments of both dommes and subs.
Philip, the "Hero", starts off in naval school but is quickly enraptured by the looks and manners of a young lady who introduces him to the "pleasures" of the birch. The book describes the intense sexual feelings of both the flogger and the flogged.
Our hero then takes a journey to join his ship abroad and is enamoured with a cruel dominatrix by whom he is used and abused. The dominatrices sexual delights are described through her use of all manner of instrument of corporal punishment whilst his feelings are described in the delighted language of the submissive. He and Her slave later turn on the Mistress evoking their passions upon Her to Her reluctant but obvious delight.
After a brief encounter with a disguised lady who shares the joy of the birch with Philip he is kidnapped and held in a school which concentrates on the dominance of the English Lady. His encounters are many as he "rises"(!) to every occasion and his love of his tormentors as well as the desires of his captors are written and described in full on every page.
This is a subtle but fast-moving book; not your every-day tale of lust and sex at its height but rather a myriad of peaks that keep the reader excited along with the incumbents of the tome.
Written with just an inkling of old English it's a riveting story of sexual encounters with punishment and pain described in detail.