My dark vanessa

'A package of dynamite' Stephen King

‘Powerful; compulsive; brilliant’ Marian Keyes

‘Takes a grip on the reader and never lets go’ Hilary Mantel

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.