A provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students - a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own...
"When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me."
And so we are introduced to our deliciously incisive narrator: a popular English professor whose charismatic husband at the same small liberal arts college is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple have long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extra-marital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both. And when our narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir, a celebrated, married young novelist who's just arrived on campus, their tinder box world comes dangerously close to exploding.
With this bold, edgy, and uncommonly assured debut, author Julia May Jonas takes us into charged territory, where the boundaries of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. Propulsive, darkly funny, and wildly entertaining, Vladimir perfectly captures the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the nuances and the grey area between power and desire.
"A deliciously dark fable of sex and power... Earmark an entire afternoon to devour this propulsive story of obsession, scandal, and transgressive desire." - Esquire
"If Netflix's The Chair, Lisa Taddeo's best-seller Three Women, and the most compelling passages of Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands had a love child (just go with me here), it would be this fiction debut. With a title character who's a sought-after young novelist new to a college faculty, Vladimir leaves the reader with more questions than answers--about sex, and sexual politics--in the most delicious way." - Entertainment Weekly
"Funny, wise and instantly engaging, Vladimir is how I like my thrill rides: brainy and sexy." - Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go Bernadette
"Vladimir is a thrilling debut--smart, sharp, and über provocative. I devoured it with fascination and awe." - Lily King, author of Writers and Lovers
"Like the man she shackles to a chair in the prologue, once this narrator has you, she won't let go. A remarkable debut." - Kirkus Reviews
"Mordantly funny...[Jonas] generously studs the narrative with clever literary allusions... and surprisingly upends assumptions about gender, power, and shame." - Publishers Weekly
"Deeply engrossing... Jonas' novel is an enthralling, self-aware, and, at times, hilarious critique of academic privilege, while the narrator's journey is a thoughtful allegory for how the old guard is responding to a new world." - Booklist
