Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Anatomy of a Scandal
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.sarahvaughanauthor.com/
CITY: Cambridge
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: English
Agent: David Hingham Associates: Lizzy Kremer, Tel: 0207 4345900, Email: dha@davidhigham.co.uk; http://www.sarahvaughanauthor.com/blog/; married with two children.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
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| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2015010860 |
| HEADING: | Vaughan, Sarah, 1972- |
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| 053 | _0 |a PR6122.A85 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Vaughan, Sarah, |d 1972- |
| 370 | __ |e Cambridge (England) |2 naf |
| 373 | __ |a Westmister Press School of Journalism |
| 375 | __ |a female |
| 377 | __ |a eng |
| 670 | __ |a The art of baking blind, 2015: |b ECIP t.p. (Sarah Vaughan) data view (1st novel; studied English at Oxford and went on to become a journalist; with eleven years experience as a news reporter at the Guardian, also health correspondent, and political correspondent, she started freelancing; she currently lives in Cambridge with her husband and children) |
| 670 | __ |a email to publisher, (St. Martin’s Press) 02-19-2015: |b (Sarah Vaughan; b. 9/13/1972; author of The art of baking blind) |
| 670 | __ |a El arte del pastel perfecto, 2015: |b title page (Sarah Vaughan) page 2 (Srah Vaughan estudió literatura en Oxford y periodismo en la Westmister Press School of Journalism, Vive cerca de Cambridge con su familia) |
PERSONAL
Born September 13, 1972; married; children: two.
EDUCATION:Westminster Press School of Journalism; Brasenose College, Oxford University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist and novelist. Worked at the Guardian as health correspondent and political reporter.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Sarah Vaughan is a British journalist and writer of drama fiction. Born September 13, 1972, she studied English at Oxford University and attended Westminster Press School of Journalism. She worked as a journalist for eleven years at The Guardian as a health correspondent and political reporter writing under the byline Sarah Hall.
The Art of Baking Blind
In 2015, Vaughan published The Art of Baking Blind. The story follows three women and one man who enter a baking contest. In 1966, Kathleen Eaden published The Art of Baking, a popular cookbook. Today, after Kathleen’s death, the publishing company is holding a contest to find the new Mrs. Eaden. The finalists competing to bake pies, cakes, and buns are empty nester Jenny, single mom Claire, single father Mike, housewife Vicki, and Karen who raises a façade that everything in her life is perfect.
Among Great British Baking Show-style trials and fails, the contestants deal with home and life issues. While the personal issues the contestants contend with, such as straying spouses and demands of motherhood, are familiar fare, Mary Ellen Quinn noted in Booklist: “It’s the baking that makes the book rise, and readers will be salivating over descriptions [of pastries].”
The Farm at the Edge of the World
Vaughan’s 2016 The Farm at the Edge of the World begins in 1939 Cornwall when city dwellers Will and Alice are evacuated during World War II to a farm in the country. By 1943, something has happened to farmer’s daughter, Maggie, that has reverberations for the next seventy years. In 2014, Alice is still atoning. Meanwhile, Maggie’s granddaughter, Lucy, returns to her childhood home, dealing with the emotional effects of a failed marriage and career and feeling as though she’d like to stay. The story flits back and forth through time slowly revealing how the pieces of the story fit together. Writing online at Nudge Book, Nicola Smith said: “There is a love story and the descriptions of the depth of feeling are exquisite. …This is a really lovely story with interesting and well-drawn characters.”
In an interview online at Literature Works, Vaughan described her inspiration for the book which derived from her childhood holidays to a relative’s farm: “I wanted to explore this world that can seem so timeless compared to the frenetic pace of urban life. But I didn’t want to create a sentimentalised view of farming, or of Cornwall….I sensed how financially crippling farming could be.” She added that she wanted a location “somewhere cut off from the decision-making and relative wealth of London. I wanted that sense of extremity to inform all aspects—geographical, dramatic, emotional—of the novel.”
Anatomy of a Scandal
Vaughan’s next book, Anatomy of a Scandal, about sexual harassment, was an international bestseller and received praise from many critics, including Independent reviewer Lucy Scholes who said that “Vaughan’s take on the classic formula is both meatier and timelier than previous incarnations” adding that the book is “well written, pacy, and full of twists and turns.” In the story, British politician James Whitehouse has been accused of raping his assistant, Olivia, and his wife Sophie is determined to fight back against the smear campaign. Kate Woodcroft is an experienced prosecuting attorney who is trying the case in court. She knows a secret, that twenty years ago, James raped her at university. James’ lawyer, Angela Regan, is just as good at her job and is determined to defend James’ good name. A tug of war ensues between powerful women who dig for information to reveal the truth and prove their convictions, until a nasty series of events culminates at the end. Approving of the thunderous revelations of secrets, a writer in Kirkus Reviews commented: “Former political correspondent Vaughan makes an impressive debut with this savvy, propulsive courtroom drama.”
Christine Tran mentioned in Booklist that Vaughan “offers gripping insight into a political scandal’s hidden machinations and the tension between justice and privilege. An absorbing, polished debut mystery.” As Vaughan focuses on the nature of privilege and power, a Publishers Weekly contributor said that the strength of the novel is how “Vaughan gradually reveals just how shockingly high the stakes are,” even when the tabloid-ready events are the least interesting parts of an otherwise engrossing, twist-filled tale.
Writing in the Guardian, Anita Sethi praised the story that addresses harassment, consent, and anachronistic attitudes to women in politics as “the author anatomises the inner workings of the corridors of power.” Barry Forshaw observed online at Financial Times that while there are many books that address sexual harassment by men in positions of power, “Few, however, are likely to have the rigour and intelligence of Vaughan’s novel.” On the Lancashire Post, writer Pam Norfolk observed: “The thorny issue of sexual consent comes under the microscope, as well as the devastating and enduring emotional fall-out from sex crime cases. Ultimately, this is the story of a marriage and the fault lines that crack beneath a web of deceit and self-deception, but it is also about revenge, privilege, power and the workings of the justice system.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 15, 2015, Mary Ellen Quinn, review of The Art of Baking Blind, p. 23; October 1, 2017, Christine Tran, review of Anatomy of a Scandal, p. 30.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2017, review of Anatomy of a Scandal.
Publishers Weekly, October 2, 2017, review of Anatomy of a Scandal, p. 118.
ONLINE
Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/ (January 19, 2018), Barry Forshaw, review of Anatomy of a Scandal.
Guardian Online, https://www.theguardian.com/ (January 14, 2018), Anita Sethi, review of Anatomy of a Scandal.
Independent Online, http://www.independent.co.uk/ (January 3, 2018), Lucy Scholes, review of Anatomy of a Scandal.
Lancashire Post Online, https://www.lep.co.uk/ (January 9, 2018), Pam Norfolk, review of Anatomy of a Scandal.
Literature Works, http://literatureworks.org.uk/ (July 9, 2017), author interview.
Nudge Book, https://nudge-book.com/ (October 9, 2016), Nicola Smith, review of The Farm at the Edge of the World.
Sarah Vaughan Website, http://www.sarahvaughanauthor.com (April 1, 2018), author profile.
I'm a novelist and journalist who has alway wanted to write fiction. My first novel, The Art of Baking Blind, was published in 2014 by Hodder, and nine other countries. The Farm at the Edge of the World, followed in 2016, and in 2017 became a bestseller in France. Anatomy of a Scandal heralds a shift in genre: part courtroom drama, part portrait of a marriage, part psychological thriller, it will be published in January 2018 by Simon & Schuster UK and Emily Bestler Books, US, and translated into 17 other languages. I'm now completing another novel in a similar vein - exploring what happens when women's lives are touched by darkness or crime.
Though I didn’t start writing fiction in earnest before I turned 40, I have put pen to paper – or fingers to a keyboard – every day of my career. Before writing novels, I was a journalist, writing under the byline Sarah Hall. After journalism college and work at The Times, I trained with the Press Association and spent 11 years on The Guardian as a news reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent. I left after having my second baby and began to freelance.
Long before that, I read English at Brasenose College, Oxford. Reading Beowulf may not have helped me become a novelist but reading and thinking about writing for three years undoubtedly did. I now live just outside Cambridge with my husband, two young children, geriatric cat and puppy. When I'm not writing, I love to walk, run, read.
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About Sarah
I'm a former Guardian journalist - news reporter and political correspondent - who always wanted to write fiction. My latest novel, Anatomy of a Scandal, will be published by Simon & Schuster in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India and translated into 17 languages, from January 2018. Before this I wrote two women's fiction novels. I'm now completing my fourth, in a similar vein to Anatomy of a Scandal, to be published in 2019.
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Vaughan, Sarah: ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Vaughan, Sarah ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL Emily Bestler/Atria (Adult Fiction) $26.00 12, 5 ISBN: 978-1-5011-7216-8
A handsome British politician--also the prime minister's oldest, closest friend--finds himself on trial for rape.Sophie Whitehouse adores her husband, James, a junior minister in the British Home Office. Watching him leave with their son and daughter one Friday morning, "she feels a stab of love so fierce she pauses on the stairs just to drink in the tableau of the three of them together." But James is uncharacteristically late coming home that night, arriving only to confess--in advance of the tabloid headlines--that he's had an affair with his assistant, Olivia. That would have been enough to shatter Sophie's world, but 11 days later, he's arrested; Olivia has filed charges of rape. James' trial brings together two formidable female barristers, one of them Kate Woodcroft, "a highly experienced specialist in prosecuting sexual crimes; forty-one years old; divorced; single; and childless," and for the defense, Angela Regan, just as determined to see James go free as Kate is to see him found guilty. And both women know this depends far less on the truth than on their adversarial and persuasive skills. As the trial proceeds, seen alternately from Kate's, Sophie's, and James' points of view, a second storyline unfolds in the early 1990s featuring a character named Holly. Holly is studying English at Oxford, as was Sophie; James is there, too, and his friend Tom, the future prime minister. All of them are involved in a nasty series of events that is not revealed until the end of the book. When the secrets finally come out, there are a few jarring details, but the momentum of the story thunders over them. Because the author leaves room for readers to consider for themselves the issues of consent and intent in rape, particularly in partner rape, this novel is a strong choice for book clubs. Former political correspondent Vaughan makes an impressive debut with this savvy, propulsive courtroom drama.
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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Vaughan, Sarah: ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504217653/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=7cefb9b1. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504217653
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Anatomy of a Scandal
Christine Tran
Booklist.
114.3 (Oct. 1, 2017): p30. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* Anatomy of a Scandal. By Sarah Vaughan. Dec. 2017.400p. Atria, $26 (9781501172168); e-book, $13.99 (9781501172182).
MP James Whitehouse, Tory rising star and close friend of the prime minister, has made good use of his charming, family-oriented image. It won't be easy for Kate Woodcroft to convict him of rape, even after the explosive scandal over Whitehouse's affair with his parliamentary researcher, Olivia Lytton. Weeks after their affair's media outing, Lytton is alleging that Whitehouse raped her in a Parliament elevator. As far as the evidence goes, the case could easily devolve into a "he said/she said," but Kate knows that the most damning evidence of his guilt is buried 20 years deep. When they were students at Oxford, Kate was also raped by Whitehouse, and he growled the same phrase Lytton claims he said to her: "Don't be such a prick tease." Now, unrecognizable after changing her name and appearance, Kate hides the conflict of interest, bent on convicting the golden-boy rapist. At the same time, Sophie Whitehouse, Kate's Oxford tutorial partner, struggles to repair her marriage despite her suspicion that her husband lied about the rape. Layers of manipulation generate intensity as Kate, James, and Sophie's characters evolve from innocent, entitled youth to wielders of political, judicial, and psychological power. Vaughan, a former political correspondent, offers gripping insight into a political scandal's hidden machinations and the tension between justice and privilege. An absorbing, polished debut mystery.--Christine Tran
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Tran, Christine. "Anatomy of a Scandal." Booklist, 1 Oct. 2017, p. 30. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A510653755/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=bf9ad987. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A510653755
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Anatomy of a Scandal
Publishers Weekly.
264.40 (Oct. 2, 2017): p118. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Anatomy of a Scandal Sarah Vaughan. Atria/Bestler, $26 (400p) ISBN 978-1-5011-7216-8
Cases don't come much higher-profile than the potential career-maker assigned to driven British barrister Kate Woodcraft, QC: prosecuting golden boy junior Home Office minister James Whitehouse, the prime minister's best friend since their boyhood at Eton, for raping the young parliamentary researcher with whom he recently ended a brief affair--in a lift at the House of Commons, no less. But the focus isn't simply the he said-she said courtroom fencing match, but deeper truths about the nature of privilege and power. Skillfully interweaving the story of the unfolding scandal with James's and his wife Sophie's student days at Oxford--as well the drug- fueled, swept-under-the-carpet tragedy there that has informed his relationship with the PM ever since--Vaughan gradually reveals just how shockingly high the stakes are. Such is the strength of this sinewy novel from Vaughan (The Farm at the Edge of the World) that the glossy, tabloid- ready surface proves one of the less interesting facets of the engrossing, twist-filled tale that unspools. Agent: Lizzy Kremer, David Higham Associates (U.K.). (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Anatomy of a Scandal." Publishers Weekly, 2 Oct. 2017, p. 118. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509728424/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=d30bcd43. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509728424
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The Art of Baking Blind
Mary Ellen Quinn
Booklist.
111.16 (Apr. 15, 2015): p23. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
By Sarah Vaughan.
May 2015. 416p. St. Martin's, $25.99 (9781250059406); e-book (9781466864283).
Here's something to savor while waiting for the next season of PBS' Great British Baking Show. Eaden's, a chain of upscale British supermarkets, is conducting a "Search for the New Mrs. Eaden," Mrs. Eaden being Kathleen, the recently deceased wife of the chain's founder and the author of the 1966 classic, The Art of Baking. Housewives Vicki, Jenny, and Karen; single dad Mike; and single mom Claire have made it to the competition, held on the Eaden country estate, and are baking their way through the cakes, biscuits, breads, pies and pastries, pudding, and "celebratory tea" rounds while dealing with various challenges at home. Excerpts from The Art of Baking head each chapter, and looks back at Kathleen's own struggles as she works on the book and tries to start a family are interspersed throughout. The problems the bakers contend with--empty-nest syndrome, the demands of motherhood, a straying husband--are familiar fare. It's the baking that makes the book rise, and readers will be salivating over descriptions of Victoria sponge, Battenburg cake, Chelsea buns, and other treats. Delectable "food porn," as one character puts it.
Quinn, Mary Ellen
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Quinn, Mary Ellen. "The Art of Baking Blind." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2015, p. 23. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A413338183/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=459e6d0d. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A413338183
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Ahead of our CEO Helen Chaloner's appearance at Port Eliot next week as part of a panel discussion on depictions of farming in literature alongside Anthony Gibson and Graham Harvey, here in the Literature Works office we wanted to explore some of those depictions in recent fiction set in the South West. We're delighted to share our review of The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan.
We’ve all done it haven’t we–? Been sitting in some idyllic place, having a cream tea (jam then cream of course as an honorary Cornish girl) looked out across the charming rural landscape and thought, yes I could do this. This being owning a small holding or farm which served rustic farm style fare – cream teas and the like. Even though I have grown up in the Cornish countryside I know that on a warm summer’s afternoon after a little too much vitamin D and homemade jam, I have definitely thought that.
So tempting is it in the modern age of technology and too much screen time to dream of this kind of escape that the second I started reading Sarah Vaughan’s novel The Farm at the Edge of the World, I was transported from my daily commute to a coastal farm and the notion that the good life was certainly worth the pursuit. This is clearly one of the core tenets of this novel- the idea of escape the beautiful Skylark ‘Polblazey’ Farm has all the rugged charm of those dreamy afternoons after all but it does not take long to discern that beneath its idyllic façade, there lives an unsettling secret, a ghost of the past and it is constantly making its presence felt, barely concealing itself for the characters who still inhabit the farm.
The Farm at the Edge of the World is my favourite kind of novel: the time slip, the semi-historical, in short: the unputdownable – attested to by the fact that it took me just a single commute to devour this story of love, betrayal, intrigue, family and farming.
The novel centres around the story of Maggie a young girl growing up in the 1940s who has become the matriarch of Skylark in 2014. Maggie leads a charmed life on her family’s farm and is only too happy to show it off when the family are joined by evacuees Will and Alice. Arriving from London, the children have much to learn of farm life and Maggie who is vivacious and mischievous is only too happy to oblige. Flash forward to 2014 and Maggie is (despite her persistent loyalty towards her family’s farm) wistful, sad and haunted by the ghost of something she just won’t share.
As the story progresses and Maggie’s granddaughter Lucy returns to the farm with secrets and regrets of her own, the reader spends their time witnessing Skylark as a still affluent though clearly war-afflicted farm in the 40s and a place used to former glory in the Teenies. Whilst it is easy and I suspect intentional to get swept away by the rural idyll – sea-swimming children become young adults who rock pool and are removed from the cares of the world -, Vaughan ensures that reality is never far from our minds.
The farm does struggle in both narratives. There is a sense that not all of the family live there for passion but rather for loyalty. Whilst it is easy and indeed possible here to see farming as an entirely pleasurable pursuit should a reader so choose, look deeper and there are some harrowing and harsh truths. One particular scene with some livestock springs to mind…. Farming was and still is, necessary to economic growth in rural communities. Vaughan astutely conveys that message as part of her wider plot – a burgeoning romance in the 1940s which has shockwave impact on the present day – without compromising the escapism of the farm as a symbol and indeed as a character within the novel.
This is achieved by the significance afforded to place in the novel – London versus Cornwall, home versus away and Skylark Farm remains the stalwart throughout all the changes that occur in the novel. Its presence is felt and does impact upon the story in such a way that it is at once a place of comfort and of sinister secrets, the scene of childhood folly and very adult truths, it has agency and is power in shaping the outcome of the novel.
I have been deliberately vague on the actual plot of the novel because I believe that the magic of this book lies in losing yourself entirely to the time-slip of the novel and following the farm and its residents through the ups and downs of life through the decades.
A fantastic novel with a strong sense of regional, local and personal identity, excellently well-developed characters and a view of farming that is enlightening and heartening simultaneously, The Farm at the Edge of the World comes highly recommended.
The Farm at the Edge of the World is available now from Hodder and Stoughton.
We caught up with Sarah to discuss her motivation for choosing farming as a subject for her novel and how her passion for the South West inspired in the novel.
The Farm at the Edge of the World is a time slip novel set in Cornwall in the 1940s and in 2014. There is the sense that ‘the edge of the world’ provides some sense of escape in both time periods, however, there are also startlingly honest representations of farm life then and now. How important were these representations to the story – what made them inescapable – and why did you choose to focus on farming in the novel?
The Farm at the Edge of the World was inspired by childhood holidays to the west of Padstow and by my mother’s memories of spending each August on her grandfather’s farm, Trewiddle, just outside St Austell. As a child, her memories were magical and I was very conscious of my Cornish heritage: all my Cornish ancestors seeming to be tenant farmers or Methodist ministers. I’d visited the farm as a child, when my mother’s cousin, Graham farmed there, and I wanted to explore this world that can seem so timeless compared to the frenetic pace of urban life. But I didn’t want to create a sentimentalised view of farming, or of Cornwall. I remember being back home in Devon when foot and mouth hit the country, and the eeriness of walking past fenced-off fields emptied of animals or seeing buckets of disinfectant at farm gates. I sensed how financially crippling farming could be – a view intensified by my talking to various farmers. So, although the beauty of the cliffs, sea, moors and fields of north Cornwall needed to shine through, so too did the physical, emotional and financial strain of farming. Cornwall – and even Devon – can feel ‘at the edge of the world’: certainly somewhere cut off from the decision-making and relative wealth of London. I wanted that sense of extremity to inform all aspects – geographical, dramatic, emotional – of the novel.
As a South West based charity, we love our region. We were struck by the strong sense of place and the notion that whilst it was a refuge for Will and Alice – the child evacuees at the novel’s opening – it was also the place that threatened and even derailed their innocence. What was it about Cornwall that made for the setting of a novel with a secret at its heart?
Cornwall can seem so geographically cut off from the rest of Britain, and the topography can also seem secretive: from coves you can only reach by foot to parts of the moor that are still isolated and, when the mist comes down, desolate. There are tiny, twisting lanes, hidden creeks, and miles of coastline where, at least out of season, you can still find yourself alone. All of this seems to lend itself to Cornwall being a place where secrets can be hidden, and will then unfold. As far as Cornwall threatening and derailing my characters’ innocence, well, I do feel that darkness is present. Parts of Cornwall – particularly the moor or the cliffs in a storm – can still feel wild. It’s a wonderful setting to write about because its beauty isn’t twee and a change in weather means it can be transformed. I think, in Cornwall, you can see still see nature at its most raw.
Skylark farm had such a strong presence throughout the novel – it seemed to have absorbed the hopes and dreams and the secrets and lies of its various residents, although they have tried to escape it, each character is in their way pulled back in by the sense that they belong there. Was it a conscious decision to have the farm become almost a character – with agency and ability to affect the plot to such dramatic effect- in the novel?
Yes – hence devoting the prologue to describing the place in all its emotional complexity. Skylark – or Polblazey as I thought of it – had to be this massive presence to explain why Maggie, and to a lesser degree Lucy, Tom and Judith, were reluctant to leave it – though they knew it made little financial sense to stay. From talking to farmers, I learned that the pressure not to be the generation that gives up the family farm could be intense. But the setting needed to be exquisite, as well: the view of the fields running down to the sea; the high cliffs in one direction and the moor in the other being as much of a lure as a home, and family business, packed tight with secrets.
You’re influenced by the South West in your writing. Can you describe a typical day’s writing for us?
Unfortunately, I’m not based in the South West at the moment though I’m down as much as possible as both my parents still live there. I was brought up in Exeter but now live in landlocked Cambridgeshire with my husband and two young children. We’ve just acquired a puppy so the day starts with walking my youngest to school and the puppy in the fields for an hour. Then I’m back at my desk and write through until school pick-up, aiming for 1,000 words a day – though on a good day it can be double; on a poor day, particularly with this new puppy, it can be less. The Farm at the Edge of the World is selling well in France, so I’ve been to Paris twice in the last six weeks to promote La Ferme du Bout du Monde. I also go to London about once a month to discuss or promote Anatomy of a Scandal, my next novel, out in January, which will be translated into 15 languages; and this weekend I’m off to Harrogate, to the crime festival, to do the same. Most of the time, however, I’m researching, wrestling with plot or looking at my screen. My hours increase when the edits come back and I have tight deadlines.
You’re a former journalist and now write fiction. Did your career as a journalist impact upon the way you approach the writing process? Can you tell us a little about how you switched genres?
I started writing fiction the week I turned 40, though it was something I’d wanted to do for years. I’d been a Fleet St journalist for 13 years, 11 on the Guardian, and the skills I learned in my former career have certainly helped as a novelist. As a journalist, I loved interviewing people to discover their stories, so for The Farm, I interviewed former evacuees and octogenarian Cornish farmers to discover what it might be like to be Will or Alice. I also know I can meet deadlines and, when pushed, daily word counts. I switched genre because of life events, really. I had taken redundancy from the Guardian after I’d had my second baby and hated freelancing. I had this idea and persuaded my husband I could get a novel sold within a year (despite only having written 15,000 words, not having an agent; or any idea of the process.) And I just got on with it. I wrote 8,000 words a week and by the time I’d written 60,000 my now agent had picked the first three chapters from her “slush pile”. She worked on it with me for nine months and it was bought immediately. I’ve since learned you’re meant to polish an entire manuscript before contacting an agent so I was very lucky.
If you could offer once piece of advice to writers looking to change the direction of their work, what would it be?
Read. Read widely and critically. In the genre you’d like to write in and elsewhere. Then just get on with it. Writing’s like a muscle: it becomes stronger and more effective the more it’s worked. Third piece of advice: stay off social media. It’s great for networking but it drains your time. And good luck!
Thanks Sarah!
@SVaughanAuthor
The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Review published on October 9, 2016.
I was a big fan of Sarah Vaughan’s first book, The Art of Baking Blind, so I was looking forward to The Farm at the Edge of the World, but also approached it with trepidation. What if I didn’t love it? What if it didn’t live up to my expectations? Well, I’m happy to report that it more than exceeded my expectations and I absolutely loved it.
For a relatively short book, it took me a little longer to read because I wanted to savour every word. Usually, when I get towards the end of a book, I can speed up but with this one I felt like I didn’t want to rush it.
The Farm, the one at the edge of the world, is in north Cornwall. In 1944, Maggie is a teenager on the cusp of womanhood, living on her family’s farm. Will and Alice are evacuees who go to live there. Something momentous and terrible happens in Maggie’s life and in 2014, 70 years later, things finally come to a head. At the same time, Maggie’s granddaughter, Lucy, returns to her childhood home after being desperate to leave years earlier. Her marriage may be over and her career is floundering and maybe her old home isn’t so bad after all.
Firstly I’d like to say how much I enjoyed Sarah Vaughan’s writing. There is a love story and the descriptions of the depth of feeling are exquisite. Often with time slip novels I find I enjoy the more contemporary story more than the one set in the past but in this book I enjoyed both equally and found both to be moving, full of emotion and intensity.
Farming is hard and that comes across here, particularly in the 2014 storyline. There are some quite harsh scenes but in portraying a working farm you can’t make it all about cute animals and scenery. The remote, sometimes beautiful, sometimes brutal setting is very atmospheric.
I love the device of flitting back and forward between two different periods, but I know some struggle with a non-linear style. I think it helps it all to unfold and it worked very well for me and kept me turning the pages to find out what happened, sometimes with a sense of foreboding as I could see how the story was going.
This is a really lovely story with interesting and well-drawn characters. I’d highly recommend it.
Nicola Smith 5/4
The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Hodder & Stoughton 978-1444792287 hbk June 2016
dir91 pbk
Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan review – a political page-turner
Themes of harassment and privilege are at the heart of this gripping tale of dark goings-on at Westminster
Anita Sethi
Sun 14 Jan 2018 07.00 EST
Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 07.38 EST
a close up shot in black and white of sarah vaughans face
Sarah Vaughan: a knowing dissection. Photograph: Philip Mynott
This page-turning novel reveals the precarious nature of existence as the seemingly perfect lives of Sophie and her husband James unravel. Part psychological thriller, part courtroom drama, and reminiscent of Louise Doughty’s Apple Tree Yard, the book centres on a scandal that hits at the heart of Westminster when James, a junior minister and the prime minister’s closest friend, is arrested and stands trial accused of rape. The narrative moves deftly between the present-day and a long-buried secret from university days. Shifts in perspective between Sophie, James and prosecuting barrister Kate add considerable suspense. Running throughout are timely issues of consent, harassment, privilege, and anachronistic attitudes to women in politics as the author anatomises the inner workings of the corridors of power, as well as the hidden recesses of the mind and heart.
• Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan is published by Simon & Schuster (£12.99). To order a copy for £11.04 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
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Short review: Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
A courtroom drama about a public figure accused of sexual assault is written with rigour and intelligence
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Barry Forshaw January 19, 2018
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Kate is a barrister, prosecuting a public figure. James Whitehouse is accused of raping his mistress, who is also his aide. Whitehouse’s wife Sophie is keen to shield her family from what she sees as the lies that threaten to destroy him. Kate, however, is determined to expose a man she sees as corrupt.
While Kate is very much the key character in Sarah Vaughan’s impressive Anatomy of a Scandal, the three main characters are all expressively drawn. The novel makes some provocative points (“Juries are keen to convict the predatory rapist,” Kate observes, “the archetypal bogeyman down a dark alley, yet when it comes to relationship rape, they’d really rather not know”), and no doubt in the current #MeToo climate — in which increasing numbers of women are bringing to light cases of sexual harassment from men in positions of power — there will be a slew of books in which the subject is central. Few, however, are likely to have the rigour and intelligence of Vaughan’s novel.
Anatomy of a Scandal, by Sarah Vaughan, Simon & Schuster RRP£12.99, 392 pages
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Anatomy of a Scandal
January 16, 2018
Written by DeathBecomesHer
Published in iBook, Kindle, Print, Reviews
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Written by Sarah Vaughan — Sexual abuse is a topic which fills miles of column inches these days. The #MeToo movement has made headlines too, putting the plight of the victims in the spotlight. The arrival of Anatomy of a Scandal seems somehow prescient…
James Whitehouse is a Tory politician on the up. Handsome, charismatic and charming, he’s also the best friend of the Prime Minister – they were at Eton and university together, of course – and looks destined for great things in government. He has a loving wife, Sophie, and two adorable children. A picture perfect family.
The facade comes tumbling down when James is accused of rape. The victim is his parliamentary researcher, Olivia Lytton. The place? A lift in the House of Commons – a touch that reminded me of Louise Doughty’s Apple Tree Yard. The press are about to have a field day, and suddenly the Whitehouse family are persona non grata.
Her husband has always had an eye for the ladies but the news hits Sophie for six, and we’re allowed access to her innermost thoughts as the story progresses. James maintains he is innocent and Sophie believes him, but is that sense of certainty about to take a body blow? Barrister Kate Woodcroft offers a very different viewpoint. She is chosen to prosecute Whitehouse, and is zealous in her pursuit of the truth. A woman who has few friends, a failed marriage and who lives for her work, it appears she sees the case as a personal crusade. She is certain of James’s guilt. But can she convince a jury?
Intermingled in the stories of these two strong, very different females is the tale of Holly Berry, a gauche northern lass who feels something of a fish out of water when she arrives as an English Litarature student at Oxford University in the early 1990s. Her story seems out of place here, but Holly has an important part to play and as we learn more about her, the pieces begin to fall into place. As timelines jump forwards and backwards, the past threatens to catch up will all of the main players.
The title of this book is an apt one, because the writing is scalpel sharp, former parliamentary correspondent Vaughan using her considerable skills to cut through the layers and get to the rotten heart of the matter. It’s part psychological thriller, part courtroom drama, with the scenes in court working particularly well. The characterisations are spot on too, but the slow start is a little off-putting. Some novels begin like an out of control pantechnicon, racing along, barely giving us a chance to catch a breath. Others take their time, rattling down sleepy country lanes, meandering and soaking up the views. Much of Anatomy of a Murder falls into the second category, and in truth I was struggling to keep up my interest for a good two-thirds of the story. Then suddenly it springs to life and becomes a true page-turner.
This is a pin sharp picture of the privileged classes, their foibles and fears, deftly painted by an author who snags our attention and then plays us like a fish on a line. If you can persevere, then be prepared for some shocking shenanigans and a few revelations that may leave you gasping. With its mixture of political intrigue, sumptuous settings (including the Houses of Parliament and Oxford University) and a plethora of shocking secrets, Anatomy of a Scandal would make a great TV drama. If you’re a fan of intelligently written crime novels, then this is a book that fits the bill nicely.
Enjoy courtroom drama? Try You Don’t Know Me or Without Fear or Favor.
Simon & Schuster
Print/Kindle/iBook
£4.99
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
Book review: Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
Author Sarah Vaughan
supplied
Author Sarah Vaughan
Today's #metoo movement gives real-life resonance to Sarah Vaughan's engrossing new novel, Anatomy of a Scandal. Part courtroom drama, part psychological page turner, it explores the interconnected lives of Britain's powerful elite rocked by a sex scandal.
The set up treads well-worn territory: the wheels fall off Sophie Whitehouse's charmed life when her politician husband James' affair with a sexy younger woman is splashed across the papers, leading to a sensationalised court case.
So far, so Profumo you might think. In fact, Vaughan's story is a surprising and suspenseful departure from the tabloid trope of the Tory MP caught with his pants down.
Anatomy of a Scandal Sarah Vaughan
supplied
Anatomy of a Scandal Sarah Vaughan
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Junior Minister James Whitehouse stands accused of raping his former lover at their place of work, in Parliamentary grounds. He may be guilty of cheating, but is he a victim of a scorned lover out for revenge? Coming from the land that invented the stiff upper lip, Sophie's struggle to stand by her man is portrayed with believable anguish.
Prosecuting QC Kate Woodcroft is consumed by the case too. Professionally driven, emotionally brittle, she's convinced Sophie's husband is guilty and she's determined to get to the truth and win her case.
With its riveting set pieces taking place in the oak panelled courtrooms of the Old Bailey, Whitehall's corridors of power and the grassy quads of Oxford University – readers enter into the inner sanctum of the English establishment.
It's a world Vaughan, a one-time political journalist and Oxford alumna knows well. She has a sharp eye for telling detail, particularly in the courtroom scenes. While Kate's considered choice of footwear and robes looks the part, her tightly curled horsehair wig, bought new rather than handed down the generations, betrays her outsider status. The going over of testimony in forensic detail and invasive personal interrogation in the court feels necessarily realistic and lends the book a propulsive tension.
Britain's old boys club looms large. In what must surely be a knowing wink to former British PM David Cameron's Bullingdon Club student days in Oxford, the exclusive male student membership of the Libertines revel in displays of wealth and wankery that come back to haunt them in later years.
The highly topical book comes out at a time where each passing day sees a new public figure brought down over sexual misconduct allegations. All over the world the #metoo outpouring has highlighted the widespread problem of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. Vaughan handles a charged subject with emotional intelligence and great skill. The book richly deserves the buzzy talk surrounding its well-timed release.
- Stuff
Book Review: Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
Natalie XenosJanuary 9, 2018
Book ReviewsBooksFeatured
When Sarah Vaughan started writing Anatomy of a Scandal, she couldn’t have anticipated just how timely the plot for her novel would be upon publication. Of course, the themes that the story explores aren’t anything new if your eyes are open to the world around us – women have always had to contend with issues of male privilege, entitlement, consent and exploitation. However, all the recent revelations in the news and media give this cautionary drama an added layer of significance.
The story opens with Kate, a strong-minded and successful criminal barrister who specialises in prosecuting sexual crimes and whose job is her life. Consequently, she’s forty-two, divorced, single and has never had children. She’s just lost a particularly tricky case when a new, high profile one lands on her desk. For Kate – who isn’t just on the side of the winners, but on the side of the truth – it’s too important to turn her back on.
The case in question involves James Whitehouse, an Eton and Oxford educated junior Home Office minister and close friend of the PM, whose seemingly perfect marriage is thrust into the spotlight when a steamy affair with his 28-year-old aide, Olivia, hits the papers. What begins as a celebrity scandal soon takes a darker turn when Olivia accuses James of sexual assault. It’s his respected word against her less influential one; her damning version of the truth vs. his more ‘innocent’ take on the incident.
Meanwhile, James’ devoted wife Sophie is putting on a brave face, distraught by her husband’s now very public affair but determined to show a united front to the papers and put to rest the allegations against the man she loves. Amidst these present day events, the story travels back to the early 1990s and adds a fourth voice to the tale – that of Oxford student Holly, as she’s introduced to the elitist institution and, more appropriately, the privilege and protection its affluent male students are swaddled in.
Drawing from her time at a historic Oxford college, as well as her experiences working as a news reporter and political correspondent, Vaughan’s story is part courtroom drama, part psychological thriller that delves into the many facets of a marriage and asks the question of how well we know those we share a bed with. It’s a devastating exploration of male entitlement and the corruption at the heart of powerful, highbrow establishments, as well as the exclusive ‘clubs’ they endorse.
Anatomy of a Scandal is a sharply written and quietly unsettling book that simmers with suspense and tension, alternating between the past and present whilst showing events from numerous perspectives. James and Olivia both believe their own accounts – it’s Kate’s job to unravel the truth and it’s Sophie’s duty – as a wife, as a mother, and as a woman – to do the right thing, even if it means betraying her marriage. Getting justice becomes just as important to the reader as it is for them both.
Intelligent, relevant and unputdownable, Anatomy of a Scandal deserves all the praise it gets.
★★★★★
Anatomy of a Scandal is published by Simon & Schuster on 11 January 2018
Book review: Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan Pam Norfolk Email Published: 12:56 Tuesday 09 January 2018 Share this article Get Daily Updates To Your Inbox 0 Have your say Junior government minister James Whitehouse appears to have it all… an Eton and Oxford education, good looks, an easy charm, a flourishing political career, a beautiful wife and two enchanting children. But when his parliamentary researcher makes a shocking sex allegation, will his high-profile marriage and his job survive the scandal that threatens to engulf them all? No stranger to the hallowed halls of Oxford University and Westminster herself, former news reporter and political correspondent Sarah Vaughan delivers a blistering psychological mystery thriller, packed with courtroom dramas and moral mazes, and destined to be one of 2018’s most exciting debuts. Written with a skill and assurance rarely seen in a first novel, Anatomy of a Scandal takes us to the heart of a dark slice of contemporary legal and political noir, a gripping and intensely relevant exploration of the women caught up in an explosive scandal that will pose difficult questions on both sides of the divide. Sophie Whitehouse is all too aware that her handsome and charismatic husband James might ‘dissemble’ in his job as a government minister but she never imagined that he might have a secret that could detonate her lovingly maintained world and ‘blow it apart forever.’ The affectionate father and successful politician has been accused of raping his blonde, leggy researcher Olivia Lytton in a lift at Westminster shortly after he ended their affair. The case has thrust their high-profile marriage into the spotlight but Sophie is convinced that James is innocent and is desperate to protect her precious children from the lies and the publicity. A specialist in sexual crimes, Kate Woodcroft is the barrister prosecuting the case. An eminent QC once told her that ‘adversarial advocacy is not really an inquiry into the truth’ but about winning the argument. And yet Kate still wants to ‘get at the truth’ in all her cases. She is certain that the charming and suave old Etonian James Whitehouse is guilty and for someone who is normally good at remaining emotionally detached, Kate has let this case get under her skin. Determined that he will pay for his crime and no stranger to suffering herself, she doesn’t flinch from posing difficult questions that few want to hear. But is James the victim of an unfortunate misunderstanding, or the perpetrator of something far more sinister? And who is right about James… Sophie or Kate? As Sophie takes a close look at her marriage and Kate confronts her demons, this is a scandal that will have far-reaching consequences for them all... Anatomy of a Scandal is a beautifully executed and superbly controlled thriller, a seductive blend of riveting courtroom action, legal conundrums, and brilliant character studies delivered with the ruthless rigour, penetration and forensic precision of an author displaying the verbal dynamism of a top-flight barrister. Actors Who Didn’t Want To Kiss Their Co-Stars Read More Hooch As Vaughan weaves between past and present, and the narratives of the principal players, the secrets and lies that have built up over 25 years start to unravel in spectacular fashion. The thorny issue of sexual consent comes under the microscope, as well as the devastating and enduring emotional fall-out from sex crime cases. Ultimately, this is the story of a marriage and the fault lines that crack beneath a web of deceit and self-deception, but it is also about revenge, privilege, power and the workings of the justice system. A classy first act from an impressive new author... (Simon & Schuster, hardback, £12.99)
Read more at: https://www.lep.co.uk/lifestyle/books/book-review-anatomy-of-a-scandal-by-sarah-vaughan-1-8947592
Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan, book review: Hyped psychological thriller that's full of twists and turns
Vaughan’s take on the 'marriage thriller' is both meatier and timelier than previous incarnations
Lucy Scholes
Wednesday 3 January 2018 12:33 GMT
0 comments
Seems like the much discussed ‘marriage thriller’ is still going strong if Sarah Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal – the first of this year’s hyped psychological thrillers – is anything to go by. After the hugely successful first flush, the genre quickly lost its edge, but Vaughan’s take on the classic formula is both meatier and timelier than previous incarnations.
The story begins with Kate, a young, ambitious QC who’s made her name prosecuting the very worst sexual assault cases. Kate, however, is single – a divorcee, the kind of woman people describe as married to her job – she’s not the ‘wife’ in this set-up. That role falls to Sophie, a West London-based stay-at-home mother of two (helped by an au pair, of course) and wife to James Whitehouse. James has always been the golden boy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, educated at Eton and Oxford (where he met Sophie), he then made some money in the city and is now a junior Home Office minister – Tory, obviously – and “confidant” of the PM, Tom Southern. James and Tom have kept each others’ confidences since they were teenagers – for much of the book we’re teased by mysterious mentions of an incident that occurred while both were members of the Libertines, an exclusive Oxford dining club modelled on the real-life Bullingdon Club – and the PM is known for his loyalty. Recent events are going to test this bond though. James had an ill-advised affair with his 28-year-old aide, Olivia, and the papers have got hold of the story. Sophie’s world comes crashing down around her, but she puts on a brave face and rallies. Then Olivia accuses James of rape.
In taking its subject as an assault that’s not perpetrated by a faceless stranger in a back alley holding his victim at knifepoint, but rather by someone the victim knows – “a rape committed by a personable, attractive, dare I say it, middle-class professional who has already had a relationship with the complainant; the sort of man you might acknowledge in the street or at the school gate; that you might be happy to have for dinner or to introduce to your kids or parents” – it’s easy to call Anatomy of a Scandal the #metoo marriage thriller. Ultimately though, the rape in and of itself – and whether, indeed, it was rape (though this question adds some extra tension) – isn’t the point. It’s a symptom of a certain type of toxic masculinity that’s bred by institutionalised male privilege, and in her critique of these societal structures, Vaughan’s novel is actually much more reminiscent of Elizabeth Day’s recent The Line of Beauty-inspired psychological thriller set amongst the Notting Hill Set and the corridors of Whitehall, The Party. Though in as much as it’s a courtroom drama, there are also strong echoes of Louise Doughty’s Apple Tree Yard here too. If you liked either of these books, you’re sure to enjoy Anatomy of a Scandal, especially since it’s well written, pacy, and full of twists and turns.
'Anatomy of a Scandal' by Sarah Vaughan is published by Simon & Schuster, £12.99
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