The Curse of Success: The Story of John Cleland

Profile of author John Cleland, whose novel Fanny Hill – Memoirs of an 18th Century Prostitute is one of the most notorious books in British literary history. A London sophisticate, at the age of 38 his debts saw him thrown into prison. After writing his bestselling novel there he was released, but triumph swiftly turned to disaster when Cleland was arrested on obscenity charges. The authorities forced him to disown his novel or face further jail time; thus was a fortune snatched from his grasp.