Move over brat summer, the autumn of true desire is here. Gillian Anderson has collected, edited and introduced a hefty collection of anonymous sexual fantasies and inserted them all in Want, a book that will rock many a household. In its millennial pink cover, with a suggestive translucent switch on the front, this is a book that will be read by many – by some proudly and openly, by some in secret, like fairytale books once were under the duvet, this time lit by the lights of mobile phones, next to sleeping and unaware spouses.

The inspiration behind Want, as explained by Anderson herself in the introduction, was  My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies, by Nancy Friday and first published in 1973. It feels like a great idea to return to the concept of collecting women’s fantasies yet again, in the second decade of the 21st century, when the conversation about sex and desire had hopefully become more of a dialogue, and the spectrum of sexuality appears to be broader in every sense, too. Anderson says she first read Friday’s book when preparation for her role as Dr Jean Milburn in Sex Education: Want followed, almost organically, from that experience. The portal for letters was open and Anderson states that the combined letters could fill at least eight volumes.

The collection comprises 13 chapters, each highlighting a different type of desire the stories submitted have in common. From Rough And Ready via The Watchers And The Watched to Gently, Gently, one could imagine that Want has covered every single scenario under the sun, but it is clear that desires are like humans themselves – limitless, in both scope and creativity.

What’s most fascinating about this collection is the moment during the reading process when all the sex talk and saucy details seem to evaporate and leave just the women themselves, their brains, their freedom to think and be completely honest on the page. If read intensely it becomes almost a mystical book on the true nature of womanhood: liberating, brave, boundary-breaking.

It’s hard to judge a book like this, because the subject is so subjective in its nature, but overall Gillian Anderson and everyone who submitted to Want became a part of something revolutionary; something that will be studied, and enjoyed, for years to come.