On a cold and inhsopitable night in December 1991, a 42-year-old married man forced himself on a 14-year-old girl and planted the seed that was to become the most controversial foetus in the whole of Irish history. The extraordinary case in the Irish High Court and the injunction to stop the distraught girl having an abortion became a cause célèbre for radicals, doctors and politicians.

But what was the anguished truth behind this tragic human story? How did one girl affect the course of Irish history, unwittingly precipitate a referendum and change the law?

Only Wendy Holden, the journalist and author with unrivalled access to the chief protagonists, can tell the whole story. Uniquely compelling, at times shocking, at times heartbreaking, Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is an important and utterly riveting book.

Wendy Holden writes for the Daily Telegraph in London for whom she originally covered the ‘X’ case. Her book is the result of many months of research – and an impassioned involvement with the case. Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is the legal term in Ireland for the crime of statutory rape. Banned in Ireland, this book lifted the lid on a highly controversial case, which sent shudders around the world.