As cool sex therapist Dr Jean Milburn in Netflix’s Sex Education, it’s safe to say that Gillian Anderson captured viewers’ hearts with her unflinching honesty, open mind and endless words of wisdom when navigating life’s intimate moments.

And now off screen, the actor has published a collection of letters from women all over the world, detailing their sexual fantasies as part of an empowering project.

Inspired by Nancy Friday’s 1973 book My Secret Garden – a collection of women’s fantasies sourced through letters, tapes and personal interviews – Anderson compiled open letters to publish anonymously in a new book that aims to be an “expansive and revelatory portrait of women’s sexuality and what it means to be a woman today”.

Want, which is out now, collects the letters of hundreds of women from around the world, all sharing their deepest fantasies. Introduced by Anderson – and including her own anonymous letter – the book reveals how women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be themselves and feel comfortable asking: What do I want?

Here’s everything you need to know about the new book. 

Want contains a range of letters, collated by Anderson, from women all over the world detailing their sexual fantasies. A synopsis reads: “Want reveals how women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally themselves.”

On announcing the new book in February 2023, Anderson spoke to the fact that many women’s “deepest, most intimate fears and fantasies remain locked away inside of us until someone comes along with the key”.

“Here is the key,” she said in a video posted to social media. “I want to hear from you […] because when we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain.

“Is there a fantasy you’ve never told anyone about? Something you’d share with only the most trusted of confidants – if anyone at all? Wherever you come from, whomever you do or don’t sleep with, whether you’re 18 or 80: I want to hear from you. Write to me, starting your letter ‘Dear Gillian’.”

The book hit shelves on 5 September and is available to shop now via hardback and ebook.

Shop Want, collected by Gillian Anderson (Bloomsbury) at Bookshop.org, £18.04

Images: Getty