Mudroslovna Tereza

The main character, young Teresa from a bourgeois family, enters a convent at the age of 11, where repressed desires cause illness and almost death. At the age of 23, she leaves and becomes a disciple of the Jesuit Father Dirrago, a secret materialist. She learns of his relationship with his student Eradice (anagrams for Girard and Cadière from the 1730 scandal), and witnesses their encounters: whipping and penetration under the guise of religious ecstasy.

Teresa confesses to Abbot T., who allows her to masturbate to preserve her virginity. She meets the widowed Madame C., who explores hedonism and atheism without procreation with the abbe. She continues her sexual education with the virgin prostitute Bois-Laurier. In the end, the Count calls her his mistress; she refuses intercourse for fear of childbirth, loses a bet in an erotic library, and becomes his mistress with a vengeance.