‘Jaded’ by Ela Lee: the debut novel impossible to put down

I’ve always been a voracious reader, steaming through at least one book every week. 

But since I joined the Guildford Feminist Book Club, I have found myself reading more slowly, thinking more deeply about the plot and characters and why the author may have written the scene in a particular way. 

I want to be ready to talk about the book with the amazing bunch of women who come to these meetings each month.  We always have a lively and entertaining discussion, and each book club member sees something different in every book.

When there is an author event, we learn even more.

We were lucky enough to have Ela Lee, author of Jaded, visit us in January, and it was such an amazing experience to hear how the story was developed, what forms the characters and how their fates are decided.

Jaded is the story of a young mixed race woman, Jade, working in a city law firm.

She has a perfect English boyfriend and exciting job prospects, just as long as she works impossibly long hours and makes every effort to fit in. From the outside, Jade seems to have it all.

Things, however, are perhaps not quite as they seem.

The prologue reads, “…Jade isn’t even my real name. …Jade began as my Starbucks name, because all children of immigrants have a Starbucks name.”

This opening drew me in and made me want to know more about Jade’s complicated life.

Early in the story, at a company party, a lecherous senior partner is plying her with booze, and a male colleague who she likes and trusts, rescues her, takes her back to her own flat and puts her to bed. And when Jade wakes the next morning, hungover and sore, she can’t believe, or doesn’t want to believe, what else may have happened that night.

This is Lee’s debut novel and it is obvious she is writing about a world she knows well.

As I read how Jade’s life and relationships unravel, the pacing of the story and the well-rounded characters made the book impossible to put down.

While Jade dealt with her own pain, confusion and sense of betrayal by denying the whole thing and burying herself in work, I was willing her to act and demand help.

When her horrified mother wanted her to bury the whole experience, I was shocked and hurt.

When the heartbroken boyfriend sought Jade’s sympathy for the pain he was suffering (oh the poor injured perfect boyfriend) I wanted to shake him.

When senior colleagues turned their backs instead of supporting her, I was raging.

This isn’t a new story, but it is an important one to tell again.

Lee brings her professional experience and legal training to a forensic examination of how a young woman is so often let down by those who should protect her.

There is no Ally McBeal happy ending here because, in the real world, things are messy.

Jade is turned inside out and has to look hard at herself and decide how much of the person she has created in order to fit into the system is worth saving.

Watching her decide who she is makes for a compelling read.

Guildford Feminist Book Club member Alison with Ela Lee’s Jaded, which is now out in paperback.

Ela Lee attended The Feminist Book Club events in London, Guildford, Bristol and Sheffield.