Against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement more novels are expected to explore sexual violence in an attempt to make sense of what is happening to and for women. Kate Elizabeth Russell's debut novel, My Dark Vanessa (2020), was hotly anticipated in the publishing world and tackles this difficult subject matter in an interesting way.
The novel is written in the first person, narrated by Vanessa Wye, alternating between two timelines. In 2000 Vanessa is 15 years old at a prestigious boarding school, while in 2017 she is 32 and grappling with her past.Vanessa grew up as an only child in a fairly traditional New England family. Her parents sent her to boarding school for its educational opportunities. At school, Vanessa meets Jacob Strane, a forty-something English teacher. Strane shows interest in Vanessa and encourages her creative writing. He introduces her to authors like Nabakov, Plath and Edna St Vincent Millay. Vanessa is delighted with Strane's interest, not understanding that she is being groomed by him. She begins a secret relationship with her teacher, cutting ties with her peers, and becoming more and more isolated. When rumours of the relationship reach school authorities, Strane breaks it off and Vanessa retreats home, shattered.
In 2017, the 32 year old Vanessa is still in touch with Strane. Her life veered off course, having never reached the potential she showed as a teen. She has been unable to settle into a decent job or any regular relationship. When Strane is accused by another young woman, Taylor, of grooming her when she was at school following the same techniques and patterns he used with Vanessa, Vanessa's world closes in on her and she is forced to confront her past.
Russell has crafted an uncomfortable book on an uncomfortable subject. Vanessa is a complex and challenging character who has difficulty in perceiving what was done to her as abuse as she does not want to be victim. Strane is pathetic, rather than creepy. I found it an interesting novel and well worth reading.
Earlier this year I read Lisa Taddeo's Three Women, and My Dark Vanessa very much reminded me of one of the three women, Maggie, and how her relationship with a high school teacher damaged her.