Consent: A Memoir

Written by Vanessa Springora

The devastating and powerful memoir from a French publisher who was abused by a famous writer from the age of thirteen

‘Dazzling’ New York Times ‘A gut-punch of a memoir with prose that cuts like a knife’ Kate Elizabeth Russell, author of My Dark Vanessa

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. At the end of 2019, as women around the world began to speak out, Springora, now in her forties and the director of one of France’s leading publishing houses, decided to reclaim her own story.

Consent is the story of her stolen adolescence. Devastating in its honesty, Springora’s painstaking memoir lays bare the cultural attitudes and circumstances that made it possible for a thirteen-year-old girl to become involved with a fifty-year-old man.

Drawing parallels between children’s fairy tales, French history and the author’s personal life, Consent offers intimate insights into the meaning of love and consent, the toll of trauma and the power of healing in women’s lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Feb 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9780008424954

Vanessa Springora

Vanessa Springora is a French writer and editor. Consent is her first book. 

Reviews for Consent

[thewestwing-864351 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An incredibly well written and heartbreaking memoir. I’ve no doubt that it will stay with me for a long time.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Searing, honest, brave, and very well-written.

[akblanchard_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

French editor Vanessa Springora shares the sad story of how she was sexually abused as a young teen by a much older man, an illustrious author she refers to by his initials: G.M. Apparently, everyone who was anyone in French literary circles knew all about G.M. and his pedophiliac proclivities, and these sophisticates all smiled knowingly at his sordid behavior. Even Vanessa’s negligent mother seemed flattered by the old man’s attentions to her daughter. In this harsh environment, Vanessa struggles to regain control of herself, her sexuality, and her sense of agency.This brief memoir is an uncompromising indictment of the author G.M. and the milieu that enabled him. Recommended.

[brookiexlicious · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book may have been slim, but I felt as if I read a longer book because of the heavy content. I know the culture in Europe is different than the United States (particularly in the 1970’s & 80’s), but I just couldn’t fathom so many adults approving of or looking the other way when it came to Vanessa and the writer, who was almost 40 years her senior. I was also extremely angry on Vanessa’s behalf when she recounts how the writer posted underage pictures of her without her consent, and nothing was done legally about that either.Despite all of the trauma, the neglect, and the gaslighting that Vanessa endures, her perseverance shines through the pages. After years of being made the subject of a story she tried so hard to escape from, she is finally writing her own.