This timely, riveting debut illuminates the interplay between a child’s heartbreaking confusion and the deepest perversions of power.
"Explosive . . . a significant addition to the necessary reassessments and conversations sparked by the #MeToo movement.
“My Dark Vanessa is a singular achievement—a masterpiece of tension and tone that will simultaneously grip you, horrify you, and move you. . . . With utmost sensitivity and vivid, gut-churning detail, Russell illuminates Vanessa’s struggle to see the story of her life for the tragedy it truly is. Before you start My Dark Vanessa , clear your schedule for the next few days—this . . . will utterly consume you.
The Best Books Coming Out This Winter Esquire
"My Dark Vanessa is a harrowing triumph. Complex, smart, and utterly riveting from start to finish, Kate Elizabeth Russell’s debut novel cracks open assumptions and clichés, and delivers a layered, nuanced narrative that is vital for a more thorough understanding of the extent and longevity of the damage wrought by sexual abuse. Be prepared for a pit in your stomach, a lump in your throat, and reading late into the night."
"My Dark Vanessa is a total masterpiece of tone and point of view, even more impressive for how uninvested it seems in impressing us. It's fascinating and devastating and brilliant. I loved it."
As powerful as it is painful, and deserves its reputation as one of the defining books of the #MeToo era.
Gripping and unsettling . . . a bracingly uncompromising book. It will doubtless be devoured with an ache of recognition by large numbers of women. But it really ought to be read by men.”
"Exquisite . . . My Dark Vanessa stands on its own as simultaneously specific and universal—about a young woman who believes she’s in a love story when she’s actually in a psychological horror film."
"A brilliant and stunning debut, My Dark Vanessa is utterly truth-rattling, humane in its clarity and chilling in its resonance. An absolute must read."
My Dark Vanessa destroyed me. This moving, ferocious story of an all-consuming relationship between a teenager and her teacher traces not just a stolen girlhood, but the aftershocks that haunt trauma survivors years into the future. Gripping, stunningly written, and important . . . I’ve been waiting for this book.
In her clever, unsettling debut novel, My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell offers a creepy account of abuse and an overwrought teenage girl's love story at the same time…One of the more radical aspects of the novel is that it maintains its ambiguities, it refuses to give up entirely on the idea that there was love somewhere in this encounter, along with other sicker, darker things…At her best, Russell probes deftly at the disorienting paradoxes inherent in these relationships…It is difficult to write about this subject without falling into predictable tropes or clichés, but Russell manages a brutal originality. In an era of neat furious accounts of victimhood, this novel stands out for elusiveness, its exceedingly complex, inventive, resourceful examination of harm and power.
The New York Times Book Review - Katie Roiphe
★ 09/16/2019
Russell offers readers an introspective narrative that fully captures the complexity and necessity of the #MeToo movement in her powerful debut. In the year 2000, Vanessa Wye is a lonely sophomore at Maine’s Browick boarding school. The academically gifted 15-year-old professes not to mind her solitude, especially when her 42-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane, begins to pay attention to her, remarking on her red hair and fashion sense, and lending her some of his favorite books—including Nabokov’s Lolita . Almost before Vanessa realizes what’s happening, the two have embarked on a sexual relationship, and Vanessa is convinced she’s been singled out as someone truly special—until, under threat of exposure, their relationship begins to go off the rails. Seventeen years later, Vanessa is still occasionally in contact with Jacob, but their relationship has grown tense, as another former student has gone public about his inappropriate advances. Russell’s novel, alternating between past and present, presents a damning indictment of sexual predation, as she starkly elucidates the ways in which abuse robbed Vanessa not only of her childhood but also of her own once-promising future. It also prompts readers to interrogate their own assumptions about victimhood, consent, and agency. This is a frighteningly sharp debut. Agent: Hillary Jacobson, ICM Partners. (Jan.)
"Exquisite . . . My Dark Vanessa stands on its own as simultaneously specific and universal—about a young woman who believes she’s in a love story when she’s actually in a psychological horror film." — Los Angeles Times
“This timely, riveting debut illuminates the interplay between a child’s heartbreaking confusion and the deepest perversions of power.”People , Book of the Week
"A brilliant and stunning debut, My Dark Vanessa is utterly truth-rattling, humane in its clarity and chilling in its resonance. An absolute must read." — Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl
“My Dark Vanessa destroyed me. This moving, ferocious story of an all-consuming relationship between a teenager and her teacher traces not just a stolen girlhood, but the aftershocks that haunt trauma survivors years into the future. Gripping, stunningly written, and important . . . I’ve been waiting for this book.” — Julie Buntin, author of Marlena
"My Dark Vanessa is a harrowing triumph. Complex, smart, and utterly riveting from start to finish, Kate Elizabeth Russell’s debut novel cracks open assumptions and clichés, and delivers a layered, nuanced narrative that is vital for a more thorough understanding of the extent and longevity of the damage wrought by sexual abuse. Be prepared for a pit in your stomach, a lump in your throat, and reading late into the night." — Lily King, bestselling author of Euphoria
"My Dark Vanessa is a total masterpiece of tone and point of view, even more impressive for how uninvested it seems in impressing us. It's fascinating and devastating and brilliant. I loved it." — Kristen Roupenian, bestselling author of You Know You Want This: “Cat Person” and Other Stories
“My Dark Vanessa is a singular achievement—a masterpiece of tension and tone that will simultaneously grip you, horrify you, and move you. . . . With utmost sensitivity and vivid, gut-churning detail, Russell illuminates Vanessa’s struggle to see the story of her life for the tragedy it truly is. Before you start My Dark Vanessa , clear your schedule for the next few days—this . . . will utterly consume you.” — Esquire , The Best Books Coming Out This Winter
"Explosive . . . a significant addition to the necessary reassessments and conversations sparked by the #MeToo movement.” — NPR
“Gripping and unsettling . . . a bracingly uncompromising book. It will doubtless be devoured with an ache of recognition by large numbers of women. But it really ought to be read by men.” — The Economist
“As powerful as it is painful, and deserves its reputation as one of the defining books of the #MeToo era.” — Vogue
Russell manages to weave beautiful prose with gut-wrenching truth.... To call this book a ‘conversation piece’ or ‘an important book’ feels belittling . . . this book is so much more than that. It’s a lightning rod. A brilliantly crafted novel, one that will stand against any of the celebrated tomes glorifying the over-sexualization of girls.
Clever, unsettling… One of the more radical aspects of the novel is that it maintains its ambiguities, it refuses to give up entirely on the idea that there was love somewhere in this encounter, along with other sicker, darker things… It is difficult to write about this subject without falling into predictable tropes or clichés, but Russell manages a brutal originality. In an era of neat furious accounts of victimhood, this novel stands out for elusiveness, its exceedingly complex, inventive, resourceful examination of harm and power.”
Taboo-shattering… A daring and deeply unsettling exploration of love, sex, loyalty, and manipulation, written in stunning prose and offering few easy answers.
A truly remarkable debut, deeply thoughtful, deeply emotional, compelling and disturbing in equal measure. I raced to the ending and then found the book lingered with me long after that last page. It is lingering still.”
Perhaps the most anticipated first novel of the year, Russell's riveting, timeline-shifting saga of the relationship between a high-school student and her teacher… is sure to spark conversation (and debate).
"Likely to totally blow up your group chat."
"At the heart of this explosive and provocative debut is the relationship between a 15-year-old girl and her 42-year-old teacher.... a timely tale."
Most Anticipated Books Newsweek
Empathetic, incendiary, and discussable.
My Dark Vanessa is a hard story to read and a harder one to put down . . . a well-constructed package of dynamite.
“My Dark Vanessa explores the sexually-charged shadow world between desire and interruption, girlhood and womanhood, coercion and complicity. It’s breathtakingly suspenseful, like downing a flaming drink without blowing it out.
My Dark Vanessa is an unsettling and thought-provoking marvel. I was captivated by the brutal honesty of the emotion and the stark beauty of the writing. This one will stay with me forever.
Grace Gummer masterfully narrates this poignant, disturbing novel set in 2017 and 2001. When the novel opens, 15-year-old Vanessa begins an affair with a charming and manipulative 42-year-old teacher at her Maine boarding school. In 2017, a former student accuses this same teacher of abuse. Gummer becomes both the teenaged Vanessa and the adult Vanessa with a deepening of her voice to depict the adult and a slightly higher, breathier voice for the girl. The listener must decide whether either Vanessa is telling the full truth about the affair—or is remembering events through the lens of trauma. Gummer’s fine, suspenseful performance of this breakthrough novel highlights the nuances that often lie beneath accusations of sexual abuse in the age of #MeToo. D.G.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
★ 2019-08-19
At 15, Vanessa Wye falls for her English teacher at Browick, a private boarding school. Jacob Strane is 42, "big, broad, and so tall that his shoulders hunch as though his body wants to apologize for taking up so much space." Strane woos Vanessa with Nabokov's novels, Plath's poetry, and furtive caresses in his back office. "I think we're very similar, Nessa," Strane tells her during a one-on-one conference. "I can tell from the way you write that you're a dark romantic like me." Soon, Vanessa is reveling in her newfound power of attraction, pursuing sleepovers at Strane's house, and conducting what she feels is a secret affair right under the noses of the administration. More than 15 years later, at the height of the #MeToo movement, Taylor Birch, another young woman from Browick, publicly accuses Strane of sexual abuse. When a young journalist reaches out to Vanessa to corroborate Taylor's story, Vanessa's world begins to unravel. "Because even if I sometimes use the word abuse to describe certain things that were done to me, in someone else's mouth the word turns ugly and absolute....It swallows me and all the times I wanted it, begged for it," Vanessa tells herself. Russell weaves Vanessa's memories of high school together with the social media-saturated callout culture of the present moment, as Vanessa struggles to determine whether the love story she has told about herself is, in fact, a tragedy of unthinkable proportions. Russell's debut is a rich psychological study of the aftermath of abuse, and her novel asks readers both to take Vanessa's assertions of agency at face value and to determine the real, psychological harm perpetrated against her by an abusive adult. What emerges is a devastating cultural portrait of enablement and the harm we allow young women to shoulder. "The excuses we make for them are outrageous," Vanessa concludes about abusive men, "but they're nothing compared with the ones we make for ourselves."
A gut-wrenching debut.
