“I still remember thinking, this is really relevant,” she notes. And when you think about it, #MeToo is a way to look back with new perspective and fresh eyes on past experiences.”Īs the accusations about Harvey Weinstein surfaced, Russell was immersed in writing, getting ready to defend her novel as part of her PhD programme. Referring to the new strand, Russell notes: “The present-day plotline means we can see this relationship through the lens of #MeToo. Vanessa, who still views her relationship with Strane as a romantic one, now has to navigate and process things in an entirely new light. Vanessa and Strane, as it happens, are still in contact with each other. While Vanessa, now a 30-something hotel worker, recalls her relationship with Jacob Strane, another former pupil comes forward to accuse him of also having underage sex with her, decades previously. Russell added a newer, present-day strand to the book. “When I got to the point where I finished the book, it aligned with this cultural moment of #MeToo, and the reading public and the publishing industry were eager to engage with this subject matter,” Russell recalls. Yet a quirk of timing pretty much put paid to all of that. Dealing with a dark and difficult subject matter, she accepted that her readership would never be sizeable. After working on the book for the best part of 18 years, she had always assumed that she was working on a literary book that would be read by a handful of people. Still, the whirlwind of attention has taken Russell by surprise. “It’s funny, while the book is going out into the world, I keep having moments of nostalgia for the writing process.” “It’s still surreal, but I’m getting a little more used to it,” she says. Russell is also getting used to being feted as the next big thing in publishing, and the author of one of 2020’s hottest titles. I’m not ashamed to say I could pay off my six-figure student loans.” “My husband and I were struggling financially in the way people who choose to go into academia and grad school seem to struggle. “It was absolutely life changing in the most practical sense,” Russell says. Not long after, Russell signed a book deal with a reported seven-figure advance. Not just any agent: Hillary Jacobson, who is famed for securing stunning advances for her charges. After completing a draft during a Master of Fine Arts degree, and another as part of a PhD, Russell found an agent in 2018. Russell’s novel, now called My Dark Vanessa, has gone through countless iterations, but has finally been published.
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