Anatomy of a Scandal
Now a major Netflix series
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3.9 • 301 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
THE WORD-OF-MOUTH SENSATION
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A RICHARD & JUDY BOOKCLUB SELECTION
NOW A NUMBER ONE NETFLIX SERIES
'Timely and compelling' Shari Lapena
'Impressive' The Times
'Gripping' Observer
'Sensational’ Clare Mackintosh
A high-profile marriage thrust into the spotlight.
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.
Praise for Anatomy of a Scandal:
'Magnificent' Marian Keyes
'Intelligent, subtle and thought-provoking' Louise Candlish
'The definition of a page-turner' Elizabeth Day
'Almost impossible to put down' Louise O’Neill
'Once the trial of MP James Whitehouse starts, you could not have prised the book from hands for love or money' Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express
'An absolute masterpiece – prepare to be very impressed' heat
'A lot of reviews claim that a novel has them ‘hooked from the start’ – but with this story, it’s painfully true' Grazia
‘A timely thriller about marriage, but also about power, who wields it, and how that affects who we believe’ Stylist
‘Well-written, pacy and full of twists and turns’ Independent
'New Netflix series lays bare the toxic privilege of those in power… Friend’s performance is eerily plausible. His Whitehouse is charismatic and smoothly persuasive, his eloquence barely concealing his arrogance… Equally strong is Miller as Sophie, who is forced for the first time to examine her own cosseted way of life and the principles she has sacrificed to preserve it' Financial Times
'This drama will immediately entire fans of House of Cards, Apple Tree Yard and The Undoing…. Miller is excellent as the elegant, brittle Sophie, who is forced to watch her beautifully organised house fall out of order, the heart of a drama that manages to feel both aesthetically glossy and morally gritty' Sunday Times Culture
'Feels like it could have been ripped from the headlines' Evening Standard
'A cautionary tale for our times' Daily Telegraph
**OUT NOW: REPUTATION, THE THRILLING AND TIMELY NEW NOVEL FROM SARAH VAUGHAN**
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This pacy psychological thriller takes us into the shadowy and scandalised corridors of Westminster when MP James Whitehouse, a close friend of the Prime Minister, is accused of rape. As the story drills into James’s past with his loyal wife Sophie, the secrets haunting prosecuting barrister Kate are also revealed. Each superbly drawn character becomes increasingly unreliable, which sets up an impactful and unpredictable finale. Within the courtroom drama, Sarah Vaughan presents sensitive and intelligent examinations of guilt, trust and ambition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cases don't come much higher-profile than the potential career-maker assigned to driven British barrister Kate Woodcroft, 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.
Customer Reviews
Anatomy of a scandal
Intruiging!
The hype is baffling
I just... don’t understand? How can other authors be recommending this? It’s just so repetitive, you are beaten over the head with unoriginal character tropes... how many times did we need to be told that Kate was married to her job, James was rich and confident, Holly “felt a fraud”? How many times did someone sense that they were getting to the kernel of the issue and Lean In to show it? Many reviews have praised vivid characterisation - but surely it’s easy to recognise the characters because they’ve been done a million times before?
The first star is for Sophie’s redemption, long as it took to come (hard to believe this gal got into Oxford but hey ho). The second is for the research that clearly went into the trial scenes and reflection of legal processes and language.
Overall: predictable, and yet wholly unconvincing...
ps “Oh man. This will be awesome!” said no one about to take drugs ever.
pps The description of northerners trying to fit in had me in stitches (not in a good way).
Powerful
A powerful tale of the rights expected from the privileged few, and another, less privileged, but wronged woman’s fight to see justice done.
Perfect, could not stop reading this book.