For decades, the true identity of Pauline Réage remained one of France's best-kept literary secrets. Dominique Aury finally confessed to writing the books in 1994, just a few years before her death.

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At Roissy, O is subjected to extreme, systematized practices of absolute submission, dominance, and physical modification, orchestrated by a secret society of men. Rather than fighting her captivity, O undergoes a psychological transformation, choosing radical submission as an ultimate proof of love for René, and later, for his older stepbrother, Sir Stephen.

The novel immediately sparked massive public scandal, legal challenges, and deep literary debates across France. Prominent intellectual Jean Paulhan defended the work, famously declaring it "the fiercest love letter a man has ever received." Retour à Roissy : The Elusive Sequel

: Histoire d'O (1954) was written by Dominique Aury (using the pseudonym Pauline Réage) as a series of love letters to her lover, Jean Paulhan.