Sydney erotic novel author charged after outrage over 'child abuse material' in book
Erotic novel 'Daddy's Little Toy' has been accused of 'featuring paedophilia', while the author has called the outcry a 'big misunderstanding'
Shweta Sharma
Tuesday 25 March 2025 05:24 GMT
A woman in Australia has been charged with producing child sexual abuse material over her novel about the relationship of a young woman with her father's friend.
Lauren Tesolin-Mastrosa, an author in Sydney who writes erotic fiction under the pen name "Tori Woods", has faced a backlash on social media following the release of her new novel titled "Daddy's Little Toy".
While the book's promotional material says it is about a "barely legal" 18-year-old woman, the cover design features the title spelled out in children's toy blocks and readers said it described how the father's friend had desired the teen since she was three years old.
New South Wales police said they began investigations into the book in March "following reports of a fiction novel containing child abuse material".
On Friday at about 12.30pm local time, detectives attended a home in Quakers Hill in the suburbs of western Sydney where they arrested the 33-year-old woman.
The police also executed a search warrant at the home and confiscated several hard copies of the book for forensic examination.
"The woman was charged with [possessing] child abuse material, [disseminating] child abuse material and [producing] child abuse material," police said.
She was granted conditional bail to appear before Blacktown Local Court on Monday 31 March, the police added.
Tesolin-Mastrosa took to social media to say that there had been a "big misunderstanding". She said the book "is definitely not promoting or inciting anything ever to do with (child sexual abuse) or paedophilia".
"What is being said is grossly disturbing and breaks my heart as well as makes me sick," she added.
She stressed that the book was fictional, adding that she understood why some parts of the book were being "frowned upon".
She said that those associated with the book, such as the cover designer, graphic designer, and editor were being wrongly attacked as they were not aware of the contents.
"These ladies were under no impression that I was Lauren Ashley writing as Tori Woods. I reached out to these ladies to work with them as Tori and only as Tori," she added.
Tesolin-Mastrosa has since taken down social media accounts, and the book has been withdrawn from online listings at Amazon and GoodReads.
The designer of the cover, Georgia Stove, distanced herself from the author, saying that she is receiving death threats.
"I have cut ties with Tori Woods, effective immediately," she said. "All I had known about the book was the blurb which read "barely legal" and in my mind I truly thought that was okay," she said.
"I am here to answer any questions you may have. Just please stop with the threats over something I had no say in."
Alongside being an author, Tesolin-Mastrosa worked as a marketing executive at the Christian organisation BaptistCare, but was reportedly suspended from the role on 20 March.
A BaptistCare spokesperson told B&T: "We can confirm that we received complaints regarding an unnamed employee late last week. As a result of these complaints, the employee was stood down effective 20 March while we undertake an internal investigation. BaptistCare takes matters of ethical conduct seriously. Our focus remains on upholding the values and integrity of our organisation."
Source:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 20934.html
