Alina Reyes is the best-selling author of The Butcher (1988), which was an immediate success in her native France, selling 500,000 copies. Her first book, it was unusual for its time in being both a piece of erotica and being written by a woman. She followed it with Lucie's Long Voyage and Behind Closed Doors, as well as contributing to collections of erotic fiction. Her latest novel is a fictionalised account of the life of Milena Jesenska, Kafka's literary companion, which unfortunately has not yet been translated into English.