Consent: A Memoir

From acclaimed novelist and short story writer (“A virtuoso . . . ”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist), a deft, somewhat shocking, memoir—a 21st-century Lolita turned upside down, told from the point of view of the girl, the author, seen in the context of the current discourse on sexual harassment and abuse in the era of #MeToo.

“Few writers can tackle the bedroom—or female libido . . . but Ciment is a master: in exquisitely spare prose, she nails it.” — Penelope Green, The New York Times about The Body in Question

A close-up look at the ardent, willed love affair between the author and her art teacher that began when she was 17 and he, 47, married with two children, and the contortions and erotic wild ride their illicit, urgent passion took them on as it turned into an improbable but blissful marriage that lasted for 45 years until his death at 93.
      A stunning, riveting book about morality and about a decades-long marriage that begins with a kiss and consensual sex (into criminality?), that asks—and explores—many questions along the way: does a story’s ending excuse its beginning? Does a kiss in one moment mean something else entirely five decades later? Can a love that starts with such an asymmetrical balance of power ever right itself . . . ?