My dark Vanessa
by Kate Elizabeth Russell, Grace Gummer, Russell Kate Elizab · first published 2020
100% recommend
"2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
…after watching the first two series on Apple TV. By far the most fun spy fiction I've ever read. Rose/House, a novella from Arkady Martine, a surprisingly deep little murder mystery involving an A.I. My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell. I started this not long after finishing Nabakov's Lolita. It's the same story, seen from the victim's POV -- though for whatever reason, she doesn't see herself as a victim.…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗IANAL, but written materials about sexual abuse don't seem to be illegal in the US. For recent-ish publications, see My Dark Vanessa by Russell and Tampa by Nutting. (I liked the former which took a thoughtful approach whereas I didn't finish the latter because it just felt like erotica for pedophiles which isn't what I was looking…
on “Australian author's erotic novel is child sex abuse material, judge finds” ↗