Prima Facie by Suzi Miller

 

Tessa Ensler never thought while growing up that she would be where she is today.  Brought up in council housing outside London with her single mother who is a cleaner and her brother who has served time, Tessa managed to use the advantage of a superior brain to win a scholarship and get out.  These days she is a defense barrister in a prestigious firm and is considered one of the best of the up and coming class.  Tessa has fought hard for her position but she can't help but still feel sometimes that she doesn't belong with the mostly rich, upper class men and women she spends her days with.

When one of the other men in her firm asks her out, Tessa isn't sure.  It would not be good for her reputation if others found out and she has been careful who she dated.  But there is attraction and she does go out with the man and takes him back to her apartment after dinner.   There she becomes part of the one in three women who is raped in her lifetime.

What should she do?  If she reports the man, can she stay in her beloved job?  He is from a family of barristers and high prestige men with lots of influence.  Who will be believed?  If she doesn't report him, will he do the same to someone else?

Suzi Miller is an Australian author who started as a lawyer but since has written over forty plays.  Her most successful was Prima Facie which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play and a Tony Award for Jodie Comer who starred in it for Best Actress In A Play.  Comer is also the narrator of the book which adds quite a lot with her English accent and cool narration which matches the character of Tessa who I also imagined as cool and reserved.  The focus on the legal aspects of reporting a rape is always relevant and especially in the 'Me-Too' environment currently in place.  Readers will learn more about the English justice service and about the statistics and outcomes of rapes.  This book is recommended for readers interested in justice and how close every woman is to uninvited attack.