‘A hard story to read and a harder one to put down … a package of dynamite’ Stephen King

‘Powerful, compulsive and brilliant … Such a skilled, terrifying depiction of the grooming of a vulnerable 15-year-old girl by her English teacher. An important book, we should all read it’ Marian Keyes

‘A remarkable debut, deeply thoughtful, deeply emotional, compelling and disturbing in equal measure’ Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

‘Riveting and compulsive, My Dark Vanessa unsettles with every sentence. A novel that asks urgent questions and refuses easy answers’ Elizabeth Day

'My Dark Vanessa is a total masterpiece of tone and point of view, even more impressive for how uninvested it seems in impressing us. It's fascinating and devastating and brilliant. I loved it' Kristen Roupenian, author of You Know You Want This: “Cat Person” and Other Stories

'Utterly compulsive and haunting ... It has the power to change and shape the conversations around girls, women, abuse and victimhood' Daisy Buchanan

‘Unsettling, compulsive and deeply thought provoking. Extremely well done’ Harriet Tyce, author of Blood Orange

‘Gripping, dark, prescient and searing in its emotional honesty, My Dark Vanessa is a must read of the year’ Sarah Pinborough, author of Behind Her Eyes and Cross Her Heart

‘My Dark Vanessa is about story-telling and manipulation and the manipulation of those stories. It is destined to be a hit’ Pandora Sykes

‘My Dark Vanessa is a provocative and disturbing exploration of what happens when manipulation feels like love. More than anything else, Russell pushes us to reconsider everything we believe about what a “perfect” victim looks like. Challenging and uncompromising, My Dark Vanessa is the book everyone will be talking about in 2020’ Louise O’Neill

‘A brilliant and stunning debut … utterly truth-rattling, humane in its clarity and chilling in its resonance. An absolute must read’ Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

‘Fascinating and devastating and brilliant. I loved it’ Kristen Roupenian, author of You Know You Want This: ‘Cat Person’ and Other Stories

‘I can’t remember the last time a book hooked me like My Dark Vanessa … a brilliant, chilling portrait of manipulation and abuse of power’ Jane Casey, author of The Missing and Cruel Acts

‘A devastating cultural portrait of enablement and the harm we allow young women to shoulder … A gut-wrenching debut’ Kirkus Starred Review