Rose is the main character in Dr. Esmé Louise James’s 2026 feminist debut novel, Becoming Venus, an Australian erotic novel that offers a loose, modern retelling of Fanny Hill with elements of Fifty Shades of Grey and a sapphic twist. Check out our media entry on the novel here.
Rose is an Australian literature tutor pursuing her Ph.D. at a Melbourne university. Following a breakup with her financier boyfriend, she reconnects with Adrian, a handsome architect and an unforgettable one-night stand, who introduces her to Melbourne’s underground sex club scene. There, hidden behind a mask and adopting the alias Venus, Rose discovers a world where she can freely explore her deepest desires and embrace her sexuality on her own terms.
Rose is a fully-realized main character – she is brilliant, funny, witty, kind, observant, and curious. She has hopes, dreams, and fears, but also flaws and triggers, too. She has a loving family and a robust circle of friends. Becoming Venus is not about her realizing she is bi – she shows she is comfortable engaging in sex with partners of multiple (or no) genders without fanfare by the end of the first few chapters. What is at the crux of the novel is Rose discovering that her queerness can fold into her curiosity and exploration of the world of kink, and that she does not have to choose in that regard. This is best seen when she is watching Adrian and her new sexual interest, Sappho, engage with each other in a sexual exhibition at the sex club, Nocturne:
A strong pang of jealousy claimed my chest — for whom, I couldn’t say. It burned within me as they [Adrian and Sappho] fell into a kiss that, even as the feeling gnawed at me, I couldn’t look away. In that moment, I could truly have been convinced I was staring at two gods of ancient times. There had never been two more beautiful beings together.
Gender ends up not figuring into Rose’s attractions whatsoever as she explores her carnal desires. In fact, her bi and kinky journey ends up improving other parts of her life. It lends her the courage to write with more heart in her dissertation and find other ways to assert her own agency in her life by borrowing from the confidence she gains by engaging in BDSM power dynamics. And her academic work gives her insight into the scenes of desire she witnesses and engages in. Iron sharpens iron, it seems.
Rose does make mistakes. She cavalierly suggests forming a throuple to ease the tension between herself, Sappho, and Adrian as a solution without doing any research. It also takes her time to fend off her controlling ex-boyfriend who wants to make her career choices for her. She also never uses the terms “bi” or “queer” to describe herself, which is a shame. Still, she is a fascinating and fearless character who is worth examination as an example of bi representation in modern erotica literature.