Sweet Nothings: Power, lust and learning

Thirty years on from The First Stone, Madison Griffiths is ready to blow the conversation wide open

The professor who whispers sweet nothings into his students’ ears makes sweet nothings out of them.

Sweet Nothings is a gripping account of four women’s interwoven stories in the wake of having once been students who embarked on romantic relationships with their university professors. 
 
Through the stories of Rose, Blaine, Cara and Elsie, Griffiths explores what these relationships tell us about power and interrogates how class and gender are expressed and exploited in our academic institutions. 
 
By tackling sex, desire and its consequences in a university setting, Griffiths looks keenly at the gender imbalances that inform these affairs, and how thorny betrayal becomes when a woman is made to believe she is the ‘exception to the rule’ only to find out she is one of many. 
 
Griffiths’ portrayal reveals, with searing candidness, the labyrinth of ego, ambition, and abuse that can begin in the classroom. It’s an unflinching critique of the hierarchies that distort relationships and can leave lasting scars.

PRAISE FOR SWEET NOTHINGS
‘There are few writers I trust to explore complex power dynamics with the care, nuance and sharp edge that Madison Griffiths brings to Sweet Nothings. This book questions what it means to love, to desire and to reckon with our autonomy in ways that I believe will resonate with all women. A must read from one of Australia’s strongest feminist voices.’ Hannah Ferguson, author of Taboo

‘A courageous interrogation of problematic sex delivered with poetic flourish.’ Chanel Contos, author of Consent Laid Bare

‘An examination of power and sex that prompts fury for what is done and grief for what is lost.’ Clementine Ford, author of I Don’t

‘With quiet fury and lyric force, Sweet Nothings lays bare the shrouded space where pedagogy and power entangle. Griffiths reminds us that women go to university to study—not to become an object of desire.’ Lucinda ‘Froomes’ Price, author of All I Ever Wanted Wasto Be Hot

‘Madison's stunningly beautiful prose is the perfect vessel for these important, intricate stories of desire and power, and this book is profoundly urgent and necessary for our time. Everyone must read this brilliantly rendered, fiercely honest book. The very best nonfiction writing is both hard-hitting and tender, and this book is both of those things and more.’ Lucia Osborne-Crowley, author of I Chose Elena