Consent: A Memoir

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

Thirty years ago, Vanessa Springora was the teenage muse of one of Frances 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 Frances leading publishing houses, decided to reclaim her own story.

Consent is the story of her stolen adolescence. Devastating in its honesty, Springoras 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 childrens fairy tales, French history and the authors personal life, Consent offers intimate insights into the meaning of love and consent, the toll of trauma and the power of healing in womens lives.