Book Review: Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan

I'm delighted to review Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan, which was published by Simon & Schuster on 11th January. I was lucky to receive an advance copy from Netgalley and the publisher.

The Blurb

A high-profile marriage thrust into the spotlight. A wife, determined to keep her family safe, must face a prosecutor who believes justice has been a long time coming. A scandal that will rock Westminster. And the women caught at the heart of it. 

Anatomy of a Scandal centres on a high-profile marriage that begins to unravel when the husband is accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is sure her husband, James, is innocent and desperately hopes to protect her precious family from the lies which might ruin them. Kate is the barrister who will prosecute the case – she is equally certain that James is guilty and determined he will pay for his crimes.

My Review

Wow - what a book! And what timing, too, with all the grimy truths being unearthed in Westminster.

This really is a gripping story about two women; one convinced of a man's guilt, the other desperate to believe in him.

Although it seems slow to start with, this builds the story as we meet the prosecutor, the accused and his wife. Later we are taken back in time, where we learn how the accused has always been cushioned by his place in society, along with his peers, protected by unspoken codes around unspeakable actions which allow these people to believe they are invincible.

I felt sympathy for both women. I was eager to see if justice would be done, but then I felt sympathy for Sophie too. Who could believe their beloved to be guilty of such a crime? Emphasis is on how the family is affected by such an accusation.

How do you prove if a crime has been committed? How do you convince a jury it was just a misunderstanding? How do you convince a jury that it wasn't? With so much in the press at the moment about miscarriages of justice, how do we know who to believe?

Anatomy of a Scandal is one book which stands up to the hype.

Click to buy now either as ebook or hardback, or pre-order the paperback.

About the Author

Anatomy of a Scandal combines Sarah Vaughan's experiences as a news reporter and political correspondent on the Guardian with her time as a student reading English at Brasenose College, Oxford, in the Nineties. Published in the UK, US, Australia, NZ, Canada and South Africa, it will be translated into 17 languages throughout 2018 and 2019. 

Anatomy of a Scandal is her third novel, her first courtroom drama/psychological thriller and her first book for Simon & Schuster. Married with two children, she lives just outside Cambridge and is currently finishing her fourth novel.

Follow Sarah on Twitter

Book Review: The People at Number Nine by Felicity Everett

The Blurb

Meet the new neighbours. Whose side are you on?

Have you met the People at Number 9?

Sara and Neil have new neighbours in their street. Glamorous and chaotic, Gav and Lou make Sara’s life seem dull. As the two couples become friends, sharing suppers, red wine and childcare, it seems a perfect couples-match. But the more Sara sees of Gav and Lou, the more she longs to change her own life. But those changes will come at a price.

My Review

Thank you to the publisher, HQ, for the review copy.

Sex, lust, envy, secrets and lies - this book has it all. 

Go on, admit it. When someone new moves in close by, you're curious, aren't you? What kind of people are they? Are they my kind of people? Am I their kind of people? Do I want to be their kind of people...?

It's quite possible we've encountered people like Gav and Lou ourselves. Families who seem perfect on the outside; but at odds with society, slightly bohemian in the way they don't give a fig about how they should behave. You might envy them, like Sara and Neil.

Sara is bored with life in the suburbs, then excited beyond belief when she befriends her new neighbours, eschewing regular friendships in favour of wanting to be their new best friend. Even husband Neil finds himself drawn into their lives.

It's a satirical look at society, marriage and friendships going askew. I found it hard to find much sympathy with any of the characters, apart from perhaps the long-suffering children. Sara is shallow and sycophantic; Lou and Gav love themselves far too much and even Neil grates after a while. As for being on anyone's 'side' - I disliked them all! 

Why would Lou and Gav be so anxious to be friends with Sara and Neil? They're wittier, more attractive (apparently) than them, so is it some kind of power play? It certainly seems that way.

This book got under my skin, in a rather uncomfortable way as opposed to winning me over. There's not much in the way of redemption. It's more of a snapshot, like a peeping Tom, peering through the window at suburban life. I can't say I particularly enjoyed the book, it was more of a tawdry compulsion.

You can buy The People at Number Nine here. 

Book Review: The Woman at Number 24 by Juliet Ashton

The Blurb

When your marriage falls apart, the last place you'd want your husband to move to is downstairs. Unfortunately for Sarah, up in the eaves at number 24, her ex-husband now lives one floor beneath her with his new wife. Their happiness floats up through the floorboards, taunting her.

A child psychologist, Sarah has picked up great sadness from the little girl, Una, who lives with her careworn mother three floors below, but is Sarah emotionally equipped to reach out?

The Spring brings a new couple to the house. Jane and Tom's zest for life revives the flagging spirits, and Sarah can't deny the instant attraction to handsome Tom. Having seen at first hand what infidelity does to people, she'll never act on it ... but the air fizzes with potential.

The sunshine doesn't reach every corner of number 24, however. Elderly Mavis, tucked away in the basement, has kept the world at bay for decades. She's about to find out that she can't hide forever.

Juliet Ashton weaves a story of love, friendship and community that will move you to laughter and to tears. Think Cold Feet meets David Nicholls, with a dash of the joy of Jill Mansell added for good measure.

My Review

Thank you to the publishers, Books and the City at Simon & Schuster for the exciting exclusive extract and then to them and Netgalley for the ARC.

You see so many big properties, once so grand,  divided up into individual flats. I always think it's a shame; ripping the heart and character out of a home. But then it becomes home to more people, allowing room for more characters and their relationships to develop.

Number 24 is home to several inhabitants, including Sarah, and somewhat awkwardly, her ex husband and his new wife. The intricacies of such a relationship are explored, with Sarah desperate to win Leo back, and Leo himself doing nothing to dissuade her...

Then there's Mavis, a cantankerous old woman who lives in self-imposed poverty in the basement. When her sister dies, Sarah feels sorry for Mavis and decides no one can be that bad - apart from perhaps, Peck, the extremely foul-mouthed parrot.

Sarah is mourning the loss of her friend Smith, who Leo had ironically been so jealous of when he and Sarah were still married - until he left her for the glamorous Helena who had moved in. 

Suffering so much loss in her life, and having to prepare to move out of the flat she adores, Sarah's life is crumbling. She is a child psychologist, but has even lost her connection to children and is so full of self-doubt. She is intrigued by new neighbours, Jane and Tom, becoming friends with Jane but disturbingly attracted to Tom...

It's a lovely story of community, which sadly seems to be lacking in much of today's society, friendships, loyalty, love and self-worth. Some have too much, whilst others are severely lacking.

Juliet writes wonderfully comforting stories which wrap themselves around you like a hug. Even the sad or uncomfortable parts where people are suffering are a delight to read, because you know the story will pan out in the end, even if it's not necessarily in the way you expect - and this is Juliet's talent. Beautiful stories which draw you right in, with great characterisation.

Now when can I move in?

You can pre-order The Woman at Number 24 from Amazon or other retailers.

About the Author:

Juliet Ashton was born in Fulham and still lives in London. She writes under a variety of names, including her real name, Bernadette Strachan, and as Claire Sandy. She is married and has one daughter. Find out more at www.berniestrachan.com You can follow Juliet on Twitter @julietstories

Owl Song at Dawn - Author Q&A

I'm proud to be on the Blog Tour for Owl Song at Dawn today, with a Q&A with author Emma Claire Sweeney. You can read my review of the novel here.

Emma Claire Sweeney has won Arts Council, Royal Literary Fund and Escalator Awards, and has been shortlisted for several others, including the Asham, Wasafiri and Fish.

She teaches creative writing at New York University in London; co-runs SomethingRhymed.com – a website on female literary friendship; and publishes features and pieces on disability for the likes of the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday and The Times.

Owl Song at Dawn is inspired by her sister, who has autism.

V: Hi Emma, welcome to my blog, and thank you for the opportunity to ask you questions about your fabulous new book, Owl Song at Dawn.

I've read that you were inspired to write this book by your sister, who has cerebral palsy, and also your Grandma, who provides the inspiration for the main character, Maeve. The story of Maeve's life, dominated by her family's determination to care for her 'severely subnormal' twin sister is heartbreaking. Though the quality of the way the authorities care for people like Edie has, one would hope, changed for the better, in what way is Maeve's life similar to your own in caring for your sister?

E: The positive aspects of the relationship between Maeve and Edie are quite similar to those shared by my sister and me. Lou has an amazing capacity for happiness, which rubs off on other people. Just the other night, after the northern launch party for Owl Song at Dawn, Lou persuaded three of my friends, my parents and me to parade around the living room in a human choo-choo train. Her lack of inhibitions gives the rest of us a great excuse to shed our reserve too.
Some aspects of care tend to get over-emphasised in narratives of disability. I’m thinking particularly of toileting. Most people who support someone with disabilities don’t feel defined by this aspect of their role, nor do they see it as a demeaning part of their loved one’s life. In my novel, I have tried to show that these aspects of care are simply a small part of a much richer and more complex relationship, which involves listening with the heart.
One of the things that I have learnt from Lou is that there can be dignity and kindness for all of us in seeking and accepting care.

 V: Do you think society has changed that much from when your book is set (in the first half of the 20th Century) in the way able-bodied people look at those with disabilities? How would you like to see it change, and do you think it ever will?

E: Maeve and Edie were born in 1933, the year Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Before long, the Nazis had begun trialling methods of mass murder on people with disabilities. These deaths have never been adequately commemorated. What’s more, Britain played a role in this shameful history since the Nazis were inspired in part by some of the eugenicist ideology prevalent in the UK. When a forced sterilisation bill was debated in parliament in 1931, it was successfully opposed only in favour of incarcerating people with learning disabilities in asylums. One of those who spoke out against forced sterilisation, nonetheless described people with learning disabilities as having “infantile and puerile minds, with perversions, with anti-social tendencies”.

On many levels we have clearly come a very long way since then. People like my sister can grow up in loving families, surrounded by supportive friends. People with learning disabilities and autism have achieved high-profile positions as actors, for instance, and as social activists. Couples with learning disabilities have married and some have raised children of their own.

Yet, these are the exceptions. Even now, learning disability is under and misrepresented in the media. Most people with such disabilities still face great opposition from family and state if they try to forge romantic and sexual relationships. Young people with disabilities are three to four times more likely to be sexually abused than their non-disabled peers and disability hate crime rose last year by 41%. Only 6.6% of adults with learning disabilities have any kind of paid employment. These are troubling indicators that we have yet to learn the lessons of the past.

Even on the more benign end of the spectrum, our attitudes to learning disability can be damaging. When I mention my sister’s cerebral palsy and autism, I am usually offered sympathy on the assumption that her life must be miserable and my childhood must have been tough. This is hardly surprising given that as recently as 1983, when Lou was diagnosed, the doctor told my parents to focus their love on her twin, Sarah, and on their eldest daughter, me; put Lou in an institution; forget there had ever been three.

Sarah and I are both profoundly grateful that our parents ignored the doctor, daring instead to share their love and attention between all three of their girls. Far from a miserable existence, Lou has a compelling joie de vivre that defies preconceptions about disability, and even calls the term itself into question.

V: Maeve comes across as a very strong character, but her life doesn't seem to have moved forward for years, including the denial of her own chance to have a family. Was she punishing herself through guilt at being able-bodied, or guilt regarding the incident in the bath?

E: Good question! If the lives of the twins had panned out differently, I suspect Maeve would have come to terms with her guilt at being born the non-disabled twin. Her situation taught her that life is unfair, so she would have learnt to accommodate this knowledge. It’s her feelings of guilt at her brief yet devastating neglect of Edie that really cause her life to stall. I wanted the novel to speak of how a life may be damaged and restricted by forgivable mistakes and wrong beliefs – a few moments of inattention, a poor choice of boyfriend, a misperception of the reasons why he deserted her, an excessive self-blame.

V: Have any other writers influenced you? Is there one you'd consider to be a mentor? 

E: Two writers in particular spring to mind: one a mentor and the other a peer. 

Jill Dawson taught me at UEA well over a decade ago, and I’ve considered her a mentor ever since. She played a hand in pretty much every positive development of my early writing life. Nowadays, Jill runs Gold Dust mentoring scheme, so lots of emerging writers get to benefit from her refreshing combination of warm encouragement and tough straight-talking. But, more than anything, it was Jill’s writing itself that influenced me. I’ve always admired the way she writes technically ambitious novels about complex subjects, and yet does so with a deceptive lightness of touch. Wild Boy was a particular influence because it is also a novel that questions stereotypes of disability. Set in eighteenth-century France, the novel is inspired by the real-life story of the wild boy of Aveyron. Through the portrayal of both this child, Victor, and Doctor Itard, who attempted to educate him, Jill Dawson explores the varied faces of autism with nuance and insight.
The ethos of Jill Dawson and Michèle Roberts, who both taught me at UEA, centered around collaboration. As a result, I have a fantastically supportive circle of writer friends. One of these friendships actually has its roots in pre-UEA days. Emily Midorikawa and I met during our early twenties, when we were living in rural Japan, working as English teachers by day and scribbling stories in secret by night. Back then, we were so shy about our ambitions that we could not even speak of them to each other.

After almost a year of friendship, over plates of Japanese pasta in a garlic-themed restaurant within a small-town shopping mall, we finally ‘came out’ to each other as aspiring authors. In the decade-and-a-half since then, we have shared every one of the uphill struggles and celebratory moments of each other’s creative journeys: offering encouragement, critiquing work-in-progress, sharing news of publication opportunities, being there to empathise when the going got tough.

Our own experiences as writer friends prompted our interest in the female alliances of our favourite authors of the past. We set up a website, Something Rhymed, on which we post our findings and now we are writing about the subject in greater depth. It is a particular pleasure that my next book, A Secret Sisterhood: the hidden literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë. George Eliot and Virginia Woolf, will have both mine and Emily’s names on the cover. 

V: How hard did you find writing Owl Song at Dawn, with it being linked to your own circumstances?

E: There were certain areas that I couldn’t let my imagination inhabit: sexual or physical abuse, for instance. It was just too painful for me to bring to life such a scenario. However, I came to feel that there were perhaps some benefits to my reluctance to write about this subject. Sometimes a novel’s depiction of abuse in asylums can overshadow the primary trauma of incarceration itself. 

I discovered that even at the height of institutionalization from the 1930s-1950s, only one-third of people with learning disabilities were ever sent away. This sparked my interest in the two-thirds who tried to remain together as families, and the pressures that might have been brought to bear on them. Such matters were difficult but therapeutic to write about because I was rehearsing various scenarios about my own future with Lou – some of which I hope might come to pass and others that represent my deepest fears.

V: You describe the setting for the book, Morecombe, very fondly. Have you lived there, or do you have fond memories of it as a seaside resort?

E: My story began to emerge when I could hear the voices of my main characters: twin sisters born in 1933. Maeve is fêted as the cleverest girl in town and Edie is diagnosed as ‘severely subnormal’. But they both spoke with Morecambe dialects. This posed a problem because I had never set foot in the town. 

Since I hail from Birkenhead, I tried to relocate my novel to the Wirral’s coastline. But, try as I might, Maeve and Edie refused to morph their Lancashire dialects into Scouse.

At this point, I accepted that I’d simply have to put in the hours, investigating Morecambe’s history from 1933 to the present day. No more excuses: I’d simply have to get it right.

I had been drafting and redrafting for some time before the reasons behind my fascination with the town finally dawned.

My sister had spent a few years at Beaumont College in Lancaster – a college for people with cerebral palsy and associated disabilities – and they used to take trips to the seaside. On some subconscious level, Morecambe is a town that I associate with my sister and her disabilities: a welcoming place where she experienced the happiest of times.

V: I love the way the book is told through Maeve, as if she is telling it to her sister. With the switching between telling their story in the past, and the present day, did you plan the majority of the story out or did you find yourself developing the story and characters as it went along?

E: I’m so glad that you liked this aspect of the novel because I really wrangled with the structure. I always knew that I wanted to piece together a patchwork narrative because I feel that our minds are made up of fragments of memories, reflections, visceral experiences and the voices of others that we’ve internalised. I did plan the story out first, but, as I wrote, the characters’ lives evolved and I had to change the plan radically with each of the novel’s many redrafts.

V: Are you writing a new book now?

E: I am in the midst of writing A Secret Sisterhood: the hidden literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë. George Eliot and Virginia Woolf with my own writer friend, Emily Midorikawa. 

After that, my next book will be another novel. But it will bring together both my fascination with female novelists and my interest in disability. I discovered that the sister of one of my favourite authors was diagnosed with ‘imbecility’ and written out of the family history. My next novel will be narrated by her.

Thank you, Emma, for a fascinating insight to your writing!

Book Review: Owl Song at Dawn by Emma Claire Sweeney

In addition to my Author Q&A with Emma Claire Sweeney on the Blog Tour for Owl Song at Dawn, here's my review of this fabulous book. Thank you to Lucy at Legend Press for the advanced reading copy.

Blurb:

Maeve Maloney is a force to be reckoned with. Despite nearing eighty, she keeps Sea View Lodge just as her parents did during Morecambe's 1950s heyday. But now only her employees and regular guests recognise the tenderness and heartbreak hidden beneath her spikiness.

Until, that is, Vincent shows up. Vincent is the last person Maeve wants to see. He is the only man alive to have known her twin sister, Edie. The nightingale to Maeve's crow, the dawn to Maeve's dusk, Edie would have set her sights on the stage all things being equal. But, from birth, things never were.

If only Maeve could confront the secret past she shares with Vincent, she might finally see what it means to love and be loved a lesson that her exuberant yet inexplicable twin may have been trying to teach her all along.

Owl Song at Dawn is a heart-rending, beautiful story, set in the present day, narrated by Maeve, as if she is talking to her 'severely subnormal' Edie. Maeve's life has been hard and lonely, and we learn gradually what brought her to be desperately trying to keep a run-down Sea View Lodge as a welcome holiday retreat for people with special needs.

Her tale is interspersed with glimpses of her younger life with her family, as they provide full time care and love for Edie along with the support of Maeve's friends, Vince and Frank. We learn of the battles with the authorities, who just want to institutionalise Edie. We've all heard of the old barbaric institutions; but we never really hear of the strength of the families determined to support their loved ones.

Vince is a gentle, caring character who obviously cares a great deal for both Edie and Maeve, but it is Frank who steals Maeve's heart. But life never happens as we plan it. Maeve has subsequently devoted her life to others, providing care, support and employment to two lovely young people with Down's Syndrome. These two, Len and Steph, are gorgeous, innocent characters, with a wicked sense of humour and a sensibility about them that many 'ordinary' folk would not afford them.

Maeve has dedicated her life to caring for others, to the detriment of her own quality of life. She has no surviving family of her own, and when a face from her past, Vince, turns up bringing sometimes painful memories, she is reluctant to let him back into her life

She's a great, feisty character, and the author has depicted this sometimes cantankerous octogenarian with a great deal of warmth and empathy.

It's a beautiful story, wonderfully written and well worthy of 5 stars.

You can buy Owl Song at Dawn here (other retailers are of course available!).

Book Tour! Wild Life by Liam Brown

I'm excited to be the last spot on the Blog Tour for this exceptional tale of survival. Thank you to the author and the publisher, Legend Press, for a proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb:

When a troubled advertising salesman loses his job, the fragile wall between his public and private personas comes tumbling down. Fleeing his debtors, Adam abandons his family and takes to sleeping rough in a local park, where a fraternity of homeless men befriend him.

As the months pass, Adam gradually learns to appreciate the tough new regime, until winter arrives early, threatening to turn his paradise into a nightmare.

Starving, exhausted and sick of the constant infighting, Adam decides to return to his family. The men, however, have other plans for him. With time running out, and the stakes raised unbearably high, Adam is forced to question whether any of us can truly escape the wildness within.

Thank you to the author and the publisher, Legend Press, for a proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever wanted to escape the rat-race? Ever had that feeling that life would be so much simpler if we could just walk away from everyone and everything? That's just what Adam does. At the end of his tether, feeling worthless and bereft of any self-control, self-worth or hope, he walks away from his family and multitude of problems.

He is saved by Rusty, who introduces him to a hidden paradise, a band of brothers who survive (barely) off the land and their own hard work. Their simple lifestyle is brutal, as they fight against nature to survive.

I loved Rusty, who is determined that no one should disrupt their way of life; I was scared stiff of their yoga-loving leader Marshall (I envisaged him as Negan from The Walking Dead), and felt both sympathy and irritation for Adam, who had destroyed his own life.

I found Wildlife to be compelling reading. I devoured it in a couple of sittings. From the premise it should be a bleak, depressing tale, but it is nothing like that. It's fast-paced, with a sense of menace and unease that had me turning the pages with trepidation. My heart was in my throat as the story progressed, as the men's basic instincts threaten to over rule their humanity, culminating in  terrifying scenes which left me shaken long after I finished reading the book.

You can buy Wildlife here (other retailers are obviously available!). And you should!

Book Review: Summer at Skylark Farm by Heidi Swain.

For everyone dreaming of escaping to the country, fall in love this summer at Skylark Farm...

Amber is a city girl at heart. So when her boyfriend Jake Somerville suggests they move to the countryside to help out at his family farm, she doesn't quite know how to react. But work has been hectic and she needs a break so she decides to grasp the opportunity and make the best of it.

Dreaming of organic orchards, paddling in streams and frolicking in fields, Amber packs up her things and moves to Skylark Farm. But life is not quite how she imagined - it's cold and dirty and the farm buildings are dilapidated and crumbling.

But Amber is determined to make the best of it and throws herself into farm life. But can she really fit in here? And can she and Jake stay together when they are so different?

A story of love in the countryside from the author of the bestselling The Cherry Tree Café. Perfect for Escape to the Country dreamers, Cath Kidston fans and Country Living addicts!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After the success of last year's debut The Cherry Tree Cafe, Summer at Skylark Farm introduces us to Amber and Jake, who forgo their stressful careers in London for country life. Unfortunately Amber learns that that life on a farm is not without it's own problems, from flapping geese and stroppy hens, to conniving ex girlfriends just waiting to see her fail.

Amber takes it all in her flowery wellie-clad stride, and settles down to her new life, eager to make friends and to prove to Jake and everyone that she is more than a city girl. She's hard-working, and determined to make it work.

Jake is her boyfriend, whose heart has always been on his aunt's farm, and he is overjoyed when Amber follows him back to the countryside, even if her initial attempts at cake baking would make Mary Berry weep.

Harriet and Jessica quickly make Amber feel welcome, and Jessica is delighted when Amber offers to help organise her wedding. 

But there's a storm brewing when a face from the past turns up...

I loved it! It's a sweet, gentle, feel-good read, with both comedy and turmoil thrown in. And it was lovely to meet some of the characters from The Cherry Tree Cafe! I love books like this, when there are links to previous books - it's like meeting up with old friends. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up with the characters from this book in the future!

You can buy the ebook here (other retailers are available!), but if you want a sneaky preview, click here for my turn on the Blog Tour, where you can read a chapter excerpt.

Book Review: Armadillos by P K Lynch

Aggie is fifteen, a ‘sub’ from a ‘sub’ family, one of Texas’ downtrodden. Her father and brother enact that ‘sub’-ness on her, week in, week out. She has only the vaguest notion that there is something wrong with the abuse she endures and instead dreams of the outside world.

And then one day, Aggie walks out. But, like the armadillos that flourish in Texas’ barren landscape, she is a survivor.

In her escape, she gravitates to those who are just as maltreated as her. They offer Aggie the sense of family, albeit a thoroughly dysfunctional one, that she’s been searching for. But when she gets embroiled in a crisis involving stolen money, Aggie soon realises there are some problems you can’t run away from.

Thanks to Legend Press for the advanced reading copy.

From the outset, Aggie's story is heartbreaking and shocking, but told in a matter-of-fact manner rather than being melodramatic. Brought up to believe that her family's behaviour is normal, Aggie knows she doesn't like it, and leaves.

Armadillos is a tough story but easy to read, written beautifully, with Aggie's Texan drawl in my head from the beginning. Despite her sheltered upbringing, she proves to be an intelligent kid who knows how to get what she wants. She doesn't like conning people, but it's a means to an end for her.

Then she meets a girl called Freak, and is introduced to a new 'family', all with their own problems. 

It's a brilliant tale of survival, of friendship and self-discovery. The words flow naturally on the page, drawing us in to Aggie's world of hurt and pain, and her relationships with the larger than life yet utterly believable supporting characters.

I really did enjoy reading this book, and highly recommend it.