In the Red — Elena Mauli Shapiro

A darkly erotic novel about a good girl gone bad.

When Irina -- Romanian by birth but brought up by American parents who have never understood her -- arrives at college she quickly abandons ordinary student life for an affair with an older, mysterious Romanian man named Andrei.

Andrei awakens a powerful sensuality in Irina. And he has money -- lots of it. For the first time, Irina feels free. But the longer she stays with Andrei, the more she is certain that she can't leave, and that may be complicit in Andrei's work -- whatever that "work" might be. Then an unexpected friendship with a young Russian bride opens the door to escape, and also revenge.

A tantalizing, edgy exploration of women and love, power and money -- interwoven with potent, unusual, and nervy Romanian fairy tales -- In the Red asks what the legacy of love is, and who will be left unscathed.