The Book of You

Starred review from February 17, 2014
Obsession masquerades as love in British author Kendal’s intimate, chilling first novel, an update of Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa. One night, after a launch party at a Bath bookshop for a scholarly study of fairy tales, Clarissa Bourne agrees to let the book’s author, academic Rafe Solmes, walk her home. The next morning, she awakens with Rafe in her bed, with no memory of how she got there and the suspicion that he’s drugged and raped her. Although she avoids him, he calls and texts constantly, lurks near her house, and showers her with unwanted (but extravagant) gifts. Summoned for jury duty, Clarissa watches a rape victim pilloried on the witness stand, and she realizes how easily Rafe could discredit her stalking allegations. So she meticulously documents his efforts to contact her. Rafe goes from being manipulative to overtly menacing, especially after Clarissa becomes involved with a fellow juror. With flawless timing, the author traces how Rafe isolates Clarissa, threatens her, and pries into the most private details of her life, while also deftly incorporating Rafe’s interest in sadistic, sexually violent fairy tales. Kendal spins a tale that’s troubling, raw, and gripping. Agent: Euan Thorneycroft, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

December 1, 2013

University administrator Clarissa will forever regret the drunken night she spent with her colleague Rafe. Even as she sits on jury duty, trying to fathom a violent crime, she realizes that she's also a victim as Rafe stalks her. Kendal's debut must be good; it's appearing in a dozen languages and will have a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014
The victim of a relentless stalker looks for a way out in Kendal's debut novel. Police shrugged their shoulders at a childhood assault suffered by university administrator Clarissa Bourne, sparking her lifelong belief that they will never take her seriously. Soon she puts that theory to the test when her lover, Henry, leaves her to take a job at another college and a colleague named Rafe attempts to insinuate himself into her life. Following a night of sex she can't remember (was she drugged?), Rafe grows more and more insistent that he and Clarissa are soul mates. He follows her, buys her gifts, writes her letters and goes through her trash looking for details about her life. When Rafe finally steps so far over the line that even someone as docile as Clarissa can no longer tolerate it, she builds a case to take to the police, guided by pamphlets aimed at stalking victims. Meanwhile, she's called for jury duty and is chosen for a seven-week trial; the case involves a woman of questionable character who was kidnapped, beaten and raped by multiple men. She meets fellow jurors Annie and Robert. Annie becomes her friend, but Robert, a firefighter, is something else: She finds herself drawn to him and dreading the moment when the trial will end, not only because she won't see him every day, but also because she'll have to return to work, where Rafe can easily target her. Kendal uses her writing skills to fine advantage, both in creating Clarissa's evidentiary journal, which she hopes will help nail Rafe, and in chronicling Rafe's growing menace. Unfortunately, it's hard to believe Clarissa would endure so much abuse from Rafe due to an early and unrelated encounter with police. Nicely written novel with a plot that will strain reader credulity.

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April 1, 2014
This debut novel's allusions to Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and to classic fairy tales provide a sophisticated veneer to what, in essence, is a creepy portrait of a stalker. Clarissa Bourne agrees to attend a book reading by her academic colleague Rafe Solmes but wakes up the next morning entirely unsure of what happened. Did he rape her? Did he drug her wine? She is soon on the receiving end of a barrage of text messages and unwanted gifts and is relieved when she is summoned to jury duty, hoping it will give her some respite from his unwanted attentions. The trial only serves to heighten her anxiety when the defendant, a rape victim, is degraded and humiliated by the prosecution. The defendant's treatment inspires Clarissa to meticulously record Rafe's overtures, which become increasingly threatening, especially after Clarissa grows closer to a fellow juror. Kendal expertly heightens the suspense while offering a disturbing portrait of a clever stalker who believes himself to be in love even as he engages in malevolent acts that undermine Clarissa's sense of identity and control.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)