This book relates the story of a young man, the narrator, who inherits from his distant uncle a form of school in which young ladies are trained for domestic service. The instruction includes a thorough grounding in ‘the arts of love’, and the full range of humiliating experiences are inflicted on their charges, thus teaching them humility and submission. Treating them as pets is included in their routine abasement. The establishment is run by a stern lady, Miss Cora Blasingdale, who upholds its rigorous disciplinary traditions. Needless to say, the narrator’s sexual appetites are frequently serviced by the young ladies, apparently consensually. The main characters form liaisons with people of like-minded practices, and the young ladies are sometimes provided for their amusement. The book shows the narrator curiously detached from the action, being interested rather than lusty in his interactions with the girls. His punishments do not invariably lead to more conventional sexual activities. The book concludes with the narrator’s forcible domination of Miss Blasingdale, who he considers to be sapphically inclined; this is achieved via bondage and chastisement, culminating (surprisingly) in fellatio rather than in any more active sexual dominance. I found the book strangely anaemic and disinterested, although fairly entertaining. ( )