eARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a dark, delicious novel. It made me think about so many things; the secrets we keep, the agency we have as women, and how we're more morally grey than we really give ourselves credit for. I really enjoyed the rich, complex, slightly problematic inner life of the narrator, a 58-year-old college professor dragged through her husband's #MeToo public crisis, all whilst exploring her budding desire for a younger literary colleague (the eponymous Vladimir).

It would be too easy to say the narrator is a "woman in crisis", in fact, the most interesting part of the book is how accepting she is about her husband's transgressions. She is simultaneously incredibly in control (in the way she plans, plots, analyses and schemes), and completely out of it (her burning desire for Vladimir). Vladimir is also married to a young ingénue, Cynthia, and they have a young child in tow. Cynthia acts as a fascinating foil to the narrator I really enjoyed too, in a way that is simultaneously competitive and lustful.

Just when I thought the plot was going to go... well... in a 'car crash you can't help but keep watching' way, it pulls it back to a more subtle, thoughtful ending. A page-turner in every respect.