My Dark Vanessa

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My Dark Vanessa

By: Kate Elizabeth Russell

Narrated by: Grace Gummer

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About this listen

An instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 DYLAN THOMAS AWARD

An era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacher

ALL HE DID WAS FALL IN LOVE WITH ME AND THE WORLD TURNED HIM INTO A MONSTER

Vanessa Wye was fifteen-years-old when she first had sex with her English teacher.

She is now thirty-two and in the storm of allegations against powerful men in 2017, the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student.

Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn't abuse. It was love. She's sure of that.

Forced to rethink her past, to revisit everything that happened, Vanessa has to redefine the great love story of her life – her great sexual awakening – as rape. Now she must deal with the possibility that she might be a victim, and just one of many.

Nuanced, uncomfortable, bold and powerful, My Dark Vanessa goes straight to the heart of some of the most complex issues of our age.

Kate Elizabeth RussellGrace GummerFourth Estate

Coming of Age

Crime Fiction

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Literary Fiction

Political

Women's Fiction

Scary

Crime

Coming of Age Crime Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Women's Fiction Scary Crime

Critic reviews

"The book everyone will be talking about." (Louise O'Neill)

"...a package of dynamite." (Stephen King)

"Compulsive. I burned through the first half in such a fever that I lost sleep, I missed meals...a lightning rod." (Washington Post)

Most relevant

I work in a book shop and we get sent proof copies of novels straight from the publisher before they are released to the public.
This book was one I fell in love with last year and have been waiting with baited breath for it to be realesed to the public and on audible (so I can devour it a third time lol)
I cannot recom3nd it highly enough ...BUT...
I don't know what it is, the narators performance is just ...flat.
It might just be because I read it twice and had a pretty solid idea of what I was expecting...

The story itself , although completely fictional, really hits home as a survivor of abuse, it's subtle yet powerful and really makes you think all the way through.
When I finished I remember putting the book down, sitting back and just thinking "whoa"!
It is in the first person and you really connect with vanessa and her point of view as a 15 year old and as an adult. How Mr Strane has shaped the woman she has become...

I would recommend this book to anyone , especially women who might have been in/seen a similar relationship in their own or one of their friends life, but a trigger warning is definitely in effect if you have suffered Serious abuse as it does not sugar coat things.

So anyway
Story 10/10
Narrator 5/10

If you can I would buy the physical book and read it that way, it is just a better experience in my opinion, but if audio book is your only option then go for it.