Title: My Dark Vanessa
Author: Kate Elizabeth Russell
Genre: Fiction, Coming-of-Age, Social Movements, Trauma
While away at a prestigious boarding school, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye is drawn into a sexual relationship with her forty-two-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane. As a teenager, Vanessa sees the relationship as powerful, special, a true love story that no one else could possibly understand. Seventeen years later and now thirty-two years old, Vanessa is forced to look at Strane through a different lens as allegations from other students come out against him, and as she faces the truth of the manipulation that has defined over half of her life.
This novel is heavy. While the author takes great care with the sensitive subject material, some parts are not easy to read. But for those affected by abuse, those holding a piece of the weight of the #metoo movement, and especially for anyone who's ever questioned #metoo's importance, this story feels so, so vital.
- Ashley
Check out My Dark Vanessa @ the library!
