Harper Collins recently announced the release of its latest book, My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. The novel talks about sexual abuse, but, covers a lot of grey areas since the book is told in flashback about a 32-year-old woman who is forced to revisit her first sexual relationship.
The book has garnered a lot of positive feedback from big names in the industry including Stephen King. The author is originally from East Maine and is a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Kansas. The book marks the author’s debut.
unnamed
The protagonist of the novel, Vanessa Wye, is 15 years old when she has a sexual relationship with her English teacher Jacob Strane. At that age, she thinks that this is a romantic dalliance and that their relationship was a loving one. In 2017, when the story about Harvey Weinstein broke and created a storm on the internet about sexual harassment faced by women everywhere, Vanessa is forced to re-look at her past.
Another student accuses Jacob of sexual misconduct and this horrifies Vanessa who always believed that theirs was a love story. She has to now re-imagine her entire past not as a young teenager, but, as a victim of rape.
