My Dark Vanessa
by Kate Elizabeth Russell
★ Top 25 book of 2020 · #18 on Best Books of 2020
At fifteen, Vanessa becomes involved with her forty-two-year-old teacher. In 2017, a fresh accusation against him forces her to question whether her past was the love she always believed. The story shifts between both eras, exploring memory, trauma, consent, and complicity.
Best for: Readers who want a challenging, thought-provoking novel about trauma, consent, and memory
My Dark Vanessa is #18 on BookWard's Best Books of 2020, out of 65 2020 books that cleared our data bar.
What My Dark Vanessa is about
In 2000, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes involved with Jacob Strane, her forty-two-year-old English teacher, a charming and calculating man. In 2017, as accusations against powerful men multiply, a former student accuses Strane of sexual abuse and reaches out to Vanessa. Now an adult, she faces a hard choice. She can stay silent and hold onto the belief that she took part in the relationship willingly, or she can rethink who she is and what happened to her.
Vanessa still thinks of Strane as her first love, and he has remained a constant presence in her life. The novel moves between her present and her past, setting memory and trauma beside a teenage girl's discovery of the power her body seems to hold. It is disturbing and unflinching, a psychologically intense look at abuse of power and at how people come to see their own histories. Readers should be prepared for difficult subject matter.
My Dark Vanessa on the Best Books of 2020
My Dark Vanessa came out in 2020. Of the 65 books first published in 2020 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #18 on our Best Books of 2020 list.
Why it made the list: 359 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (23 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2020 list
- Heart Bones Colleen Hoover, #16
- Beach Read Emily Henry, #17
- Crave Tracy Wolff, #19
- Layla Colleen Hoover, #20
See all Best Books of 2020 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2019 Best Books of 2021.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 328 want to read it, 6 are reading it now and 25 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 23 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 65 | 55% |
| Reader love | 66 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 32 | 20% |
Questions about My Dark Vanessa
When was My Dark Vanessa published?
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell was first published in 2020.
Was My Dark Vanessa one of the best books of 2020?
My Dark Vanessa is #18 on BookWard's Best Books of 2020, out of 65 2020 books that cleared our data bar. 359 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (23 ratings).
Why is My Dark Vanessa on the Best Books of 2020 list?
359 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (23 ratings).
More of the best books of 2020
- Good Girl, Bad Blood Holly Jackson, #1
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Suzanne Collins, #2
- The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel, #3
- The Inheritance Games Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #4
- Heartstopper, Volume 3 Alice Oseman, #5
- The Midnight Library Matt Haig, #6
See the full Best Books of 2020, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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