Books in Order: A Comprehensive Guide to Kate Elizabeth Russell's Novels

Kate Elizabeth Russell is a one-book author so far, but the one book made it count: My Dark Vanessa, her 2020 debut, became a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into multiple languages. Russell grew up in eastern Maine and took the long academic road to publication, earning an MFA from Indiana University and then a doctorate at the University of Kansas.

With a single published novel, the reading order takes care of itself — but it's worth knowing what you're picking up. Her writing has been called intense, insightful, and immediately gripping, and My Dark Vanessa is the sort of debut that turns a first-time novelist into a name readers watch for years afterward.