Consent

Sometimes, a single voice is enough to break the silence of complicity.

Thirty years ago, Vanessa Springora was the teenage muse of one of France's most celebrated writers, a footnote in the narrative of an influential man in the French literary world. In late 2019, as women around the world began speaking out, the author, now in her forties, decided to reclaim her own story.

Consent chronicles the stolen adolescence of a precocious young woman. Devastating in its honesty.

Vanessa Springora tells this story of love and perversion in a lucid and brilliant way , in which she describes a relentless process of psychic manipulation and the ambiguity in which the consenting victim is placed.

Beyond her individual story, the author also makes a forceful denunciation of a literary world that for a long time accepted and helped to perpetuate gender inequality and the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

An international literary sensation, this is an intimate and impactful book, a #MeToo-era narrative about power, manipulation, trauma, healing, and resilience.

“A chilling work about child abuse and the sophisticated Parisians who looked away... Springora is an elegant and insightful writer.” — Kirkus Reviews .

“A harrowing memoir about the abusive relationship the author entered into at age fourteen with a fifty-year-old writer... This stunning account will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.” — Publishers Weekly

“A brutal account of a woman who hopes to reclaim her story by force. Recommended reading.” — Library Journal

“A detailed and relentless narrative, written with a firm, incisive hand and imbued with discreet pain... Paying the predator back in kind, Springora composes a cathartic text that will make history.” — Le Monde