Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naive teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher. 2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed? My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself. Kate Elizabeth Russell is originally from eastern Maine. She holds a PhD in creative writing from the University of Kansas and an MFA from Indiana University. This is her first novel. Grace Gummer currently stars in the Emmy-winning USA television series Mr Robot. Previous on-screen credits include HBO’s The Newsroom, Amazon’s Good Girls Revolt, and F/X’s American Horror Story, as well as filmsFrances Ha and The Homesman, among others. Her recent theater credits include Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day, and Second Stage Theater’s Mary Page Marlowe. Gummer is a graduate of Vassar College. She resides in Los Angeles and New York City. PERFORMED BY GRACE GUMMER Running Time: Approx. 15.5 Hours • Unabridged Copyright © 2020 by Kate Elizabeth Russell. 햯 & © 2020 HarperCollins Publishers. Jacket design by Elsie Lyons. Jacket photograph © Wojciech Zwolinski/Arcangel (woman); © Cristina Romero Palma/Shutterstock (butterfly). www.harperaudio.com 39927 I SBN 978-1-09-425823-2 Playaway pre-loaded audiobooks are the best way to listen, unplugged and uninterrupted. WWW.PLAYAWAY.COM © 2020 Playaway. Patented. All rights reserved. Designed in Ohio. Made in China. 9 781094 258232.