Helen and Desire, the best known and finest of Trocchi's erotic novels, is a highly compelling examination of sexuality. Written from the perspective of its eponymous heroine, Helen Smith, it follows the fortunes of this lady as she uses her alluring charms to take her through life. Inevitably she is also abused along the way by the men who cannot resist the appeal of sex incarnate and so Helen's existence fluctuates from one of liberation to one of imprisonment.