"The Art of Joy" by Goliarda Sapienza, a book about the sexual adventures of a heterosexual woman will finally be published after 45 years in Britain by Penguin publishers.

"The Art of Joy" by Goliarda Sapienza talks about the sexual adventures of a heterosexual woman including committing incest and murdering a nun. The novel was written 45 years back buy publishers in Britain thought it to be too "shocking" for readers and no one published it.

Sapienza's husband held on to the manuscript of the book for 20 years before finally publishing 1,000 copies himself in 1998. After that, publishers from France and Italy agreed to publish the book and the novel sold 300,000 hardbacks in France alone.

Publishing house Penguin is now taking it upon themselves to finally publish the book in Britain and will release the novel July 4.

Alexis Kirschbaum, editorial director of Penguin Classics, described the novel as "a forgotten masterpiece, with its own distinctive style," and believes Sapienza belongs to a class of writers like Henry James. She reveals that she was in possession of the manuscript two years ago, before "Fifty Shades of Grey" was released but translator Anne Milano Appel just completed translating the book to English this year.

Sapienza was an Italian actress who died penniless in 1996. She struggled financially and was jailed for stealing a friend's jewellery. She published several novels, but The Art of Joy is her masterpiece, Kirschbaum said.