My Dark Vanessa

In 2000, bright and ambitious fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye believes she is in love. Her forty-two-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane, has singled her out, and their secret affair feels like the epic romance she has only read about in books. To her, it is a relationship of equals, a meeting of minds that defines her. She is convinced it is not abuse; it is a love story.

Seventeen years later, as a wave of accusations against powerful men gains momentum, another former student accuses Strane of sexual abuse. Vanessa is suddenly forced to confront her past as the story she has told herself for nearly two decades begins to unravel. Now she faces an impossible choice: remain silent and hold on to the belief that she was a willing participant, or re-examine everything she thought she knew about her first love and the man who fundamentally shaped her life. This novel presents a complex and unflinching exploration of memory, trauma, and the dangerous power of a narrative rewritten.