"The Consent" (French edition) by Vanessa Springora

In the mid-80s, raised by a divorced mother, V. fills the void left by an absent father through reading. At thirteen, during a dinner, she meets G., a writer whose scandalous reputation she is unaware of. From the first glance, she is captivated by the charisma of this fifty-year-old man with the appearance of a monk, by his amorous glances, and the attention he gives her. Later, she receives a letter where he declares his "imperative" need to see her again. Ever-present and passionate, G. manages to reassure her: he loves her and will do her no harm. Just after turning fourteen, V. offers herself to him body and soul. The threats from the vice squad only strengthen this dangerously romantic affair. But the disillusionment is terrible when V. realizes that G. has always collected romances with teenage girls and engages in sex tourism in countries where minors are vulnerable. Behind the flattering facade of the man of letters hides a predator, covered by a part of the literary world. V. tries to break free from his grip, while he prepares to tell their story in a novel. After their breakup, the torment continues as the writer keeps reactivating V.'s suffering through publications and harassment.
"For so many years, my dreams have been filled with murder and revenge. Until the day when the solution finally presents itself, there, before my eyes, as an obvious choice: to trap the hunter in his own snare, to lock him in a book," she writes in the preamble of this liberating narrative.

More than thirty years after the events, Vanessa Springora delivers this striking text, with stunning lucidity, written in a remarkable language. She depicts an implacable process of psychic manipulation and the frightening ambiguity in which the consenting, loving victim is placed. But beyond her individual story, she also questions the excesses of an era and the complacency of a world blinded by talent and fame.

📖 Book Features:

• Title: Consent
• Author: Vanessa Springora
• Publisher: Grasset
• Collection: French Literature
• Publication Date: January 2, 2020
• Format: Paperback
• Number of Pages: 205
• Dimensions: 21 x 13 x 1.9 cm
• Weight: 250 g
• Language: French
• ISBN: 978-2-246-82269-1
• EAN13: 9782246822691