Anatomy of a Scandal

I loved this book! James is a politician... and Sophie doesnt know if she can trust him... her own husband. Kate is determined that he us not going to get away with his behaviour. I loved the way the characters lives were all intertwined both is the past and the present. The story is told from multiple points of view and jumps betwern the now and 20 years earlier at college.

Highly recommended read.. thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Australia for an advance copy of this book to read and review

What a great story! Just loved it and found it very compelling reading. There is so much in the storyline as it moves from the present to University student days in the 1990s from the different perspectives of the main characters. The characters are so believable and I loved the way the story unfolds adding further depth and complexity. It is as the title suggest - an anatomy of a scandal. Loved the court room scenes, the build up and the running of the prosecution case by Kate who is a very passionate QC. The personal dilemmas of Sophie as she faces and deals with her husband’s infidelity leading to him being accused of rape and taken to court. James, the man himself, is also an interesting character - a charming, handsome, well-bred - but still a politician.

The publisher’s blurb is a an excellent introduction.

Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for a copy to read and review.

Read within a couple of days. Look forward to more from this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was highly absorbing and I so wanted her to win.

It isn’t a shocking storyline, unfortunately, one which is all too familiar for many women. It reflects the current anger of the #metoo campaign, but also highlights the fallout to all involved. Not just the accused, but also their families, as well as the accuser and all on their side. (It’s hard to write this review without giving away any if the storyline.)

But I’ll just say that it’s stayed with me a few days after I finished. It’s made me reflect on the current political upheavals we’re having, and potential implications. But also to take stock, and remember that there’s usually a grain of truth in all stories, so not to be as dismissive as I may have been in the past.

‘I told the truth, near enough. Or the truth as I saw it.’

James Whitehouse, a junior minister in the British Home Office, seems to have it all. Educated at Oxford, James is privileged, handsome, well-off and the prime minister’s closest friend. He’s been married to Sophie for 12 years, and they have two children, Emily and Toby. He comes home late one night and, in advance of the tabloid headlines, confesses that’s he’s had an affair with his assistant, Olivia. The affair is finished, he tells Sophie. And then eleven days later, just as Sophie seems to be coming to terms with this infidelity, James is arrested. Olivia has filed a charge of rape against him.

The prosecuting barrister is: Kate Woodcroft, a highly experienced specialist in prosecuting sexual crimes. James’s defence barrister is Angela Regan. Both women know that whether James is found guilty or innocent will depend more on their skills in convincing a jury than it does on the truth.

Our view of James’s trial is given from the alternate points of Kate, Sophie and James. But is James innocent or guilty of raping Olivia? Did she consent, as he claims? Sophie want to believe that James in innocent. Kate is convinced that James is guilty.

But there’s another story unfolding as well. Set in the early 1990s, when Sophie, James, Tom Southern (the prime minister) and a girl named Holly were all studying at Oxford. Something happened at Oxford then. Something which caused Holly to leave. Something that James and Tom hope remains in the past.

This is Sarah Vaughan’s third novel, and I enjoyed it. While I think most readers will work out Holly’s place in this story comparatively early, this knowledge didn’t negatively impact on my enjoyment. ‘Anatomy of a Scandal’ depicts three people, each of whom has been shaped (for better or worse) by their life experiences. And the ending? It worked for me.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Anatomy of a Scandal is a well written psychological drama which is difficult to put down. Sophie’s husband, James, a successful, charismatic politician and a loving husband and father, is accused of a heinous crime. Sophie wants to believe he’s innocent. She tries desperately to push away the haunting memories of events which occurred years before during their student days and which, so far, have been successfully buried.

Kate, the lawyer hired to prosecute James, is also haunted by her own memories of past events and is convinced of James' guilt. She is determined to make him pay for his crime.

The story unfolds into an engrossing courtroom drama and a reminder that past events, no matter how deeply buried, can come back to bite us.

Highly recommended. Thanks to Simon & Schuster (Australia) and NetGalley for the ARC.

Anatomy of a Scandal is also the anatomy of a marriage, showing how the foundation stones can be damaged early in the relationship, leading to the later widening of hairline cracks that then threaten to bring down the whole structure.

James Whitehouse, handsome, urbane and wealthy and a self assured Oxford graduate, admired by both men and women, is a Junior Minister in the British cabinet and personal friend of the PM. At college they were both members of the Libertines, an elite dining club for privileged young men who expected to do as they pleased and use their wealth to pay for the damage afterwards. As a top scholar and physically fit member of the rowing club, James had women throwing themselves at his feet and believed he could have any woman he wanted. He met his wife, Sophie at Oxford and dated for a while, although it was a few years later that they met up again and he realized that this smart, beautiful woman would make the perfect wife for an up and coming politician. But there are lies in James’ past, things he did that are best kept hidden. He is still an attractive man and although his marriage is happy, blessed with two adoring children, he has an affair with a young researcher, Olivia Lytton, that lands him in hot water and results in his arrest.

This is a compelling courtroom drama that carefully builds up the case against James. The Crown Prosecutor, Kate Woodcroft was herself an Oxford student for a year before leaving abruptly and transferring to a University closer to home and has her own reasons for wanting to see James pay for his indiscretions. Release of information by the author is carefully measured, both in the past at Oxford and in the current courtroom scenes. The main characters, James, Sophie and Kate all get to tell their stories from their point of view and this helps to build them into credible, realistic personalities. The courtroom dialogue is crisp and clean as the trial progresses to a conclusion that is impossible to guess. There is plenty of time to reflect on the compromises women make to accommodate men in their affairs and marriages and to reflect on the line between the truth and the truth as we see it. An excellent, intelligent depiction of the type of scandals that are so common these days. Highly recommended for all those who enjoy a well-written courtroom drama.

I want to thank the publisher, Simon and Schuster (Australia) for providing me with a galley of this book, in exchange for my honest review.
I really like this story as it is very relevant to the world we live in today and the recent #metoo campaign, that highlights that sexual abuse of women is alive and well not only in Hollywood, but also in corporations and as Oprah Winfrey highlighted in her acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards, women in factories and the army as well. This affect woman in all echelons of society and around the world.
Kate, Woodcroft, a prosecutor highly experienced in prosecuting sexual crimes has been given the case of James Whitehouse, a junior Minister in the British Home Office. James is accused of the rape of his assistant Olivia with whom he had a short affair.
Kate has her own past experience with sexual assault , is determined to let him not get away with this crime. The court room scenes are very well written, the build up of the case to the climax of the verdict.
I really like that this book tells the story from the point of view of all involved parties, the perpetrator, the victim and the family of the perpetrator. It helps us to have compassion not only for the plight of the victim but for the family of the perpetrator as well as they are victims too. We get a good sense of of what they are going through.
The prosecutor, who is a victim of sexual crime herself, you can feel her pain and you want her to win. The wife of James, Sophie Whitehouse, who is suddenly entrusted in this scandal, or isn’t she?
Sophie’s character is well developed, so believable and I find myself rooting for her not to only to find her voice but also find herself. Her personal and moral dilemmas are very well described in this book.
Last but not least, James’ character gives us a unique insight into the mind of the perpetrator.
I highly recommend this book!

I will post this review also on Goodreads and Twitter and on Amazon on January 23, 2018

A timely exploration of privilege, half-truths, the lies we tell ourselves.

Vaughan did an excellent job addressing a very sensitive subject: the sometimes fine line between consent and lack of consent, especially when the two involved are already in a relationship.

The writing was exquisite, the characters complex and very well drawn.

I'm looking forward to reading more by Sarah Vaughn, as this novel was impressive.

What a great read! I couldn’t put it down. A true psychological thriller. Watching the perfect lives of Sophie and her husband James unravel stopped me having a decent nights sleep for days. It is a page turning story about a scandal that hits James, a junior Home Office minister. James is arrested and stands trial accused of rape. The story moves seamlessly between the present-day and the past where a mysterious secret has been hidden. Sophie struggles to stand by her man but puts on a brave face. Well written with lots of twist and turns and suspense to keep you enthralled in what will happen to James and will their marriage survive.

A great read, and very topical subject matter. Beautifully drawn characters, moved at a good pace and had a well structured ploy. Thoroughly recommend.

Rich, gorgeous, popular and charismatic would describe the James we meet in the heady years of his enviably sparkling youth. It is easy for James’ friends and family to see where such was a charmed young man will end up. Some people were always meant for the heights.

Not so long past the college days, James is now carving his career in in the political arena. He has the wife, he has the children, he has the contacts. The halls of Westminster are now the stomping grounds of arrogance and pride, as the Teflon Oxford graduate of Oxford confirms his position in a government led by an old university comrade, one of its youngest ever Prime Ministers.

Where are the women here? They support, they assist – and they prosecute. Accused of raping a young woman in an elevator at Parliament, James is suddenly no longer bullet proof. His wife is no longer by his side. His government may no longer be so benevolent. Those he crossed in the past will no longer be silent.

ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL is a read that is straddling two worlds. It does come across as somewhat like the experience of reading a BBCTV telemovie script, though the book lacks the heavier drama punch that could easily have been included. Kudos to the author for not going down this path of easy entertainment. This lack of visceral description and emotional drama actually serves the read quite well, but you need to be prepared to settle in for the long haul of tackling yet another novel that spends half of its time immured in the ghosts of a collegial past – here, being those of the accused and his wife who met during their university years. This childhood/young adult focus seems to be a bit of thing in domestic thriller novels that have flooded the crime fiction market in the last couple of years.

ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL takes its reader to a certain point of questioning all of the character’s motives, though also at the same time wondering why they are all a bit vague as to what it is that they want. It is far easier in this novel to get a grasp on the perpetrator rather than understand what it is that bolsters up the survivor.

The journalistic background of author Sarah Vaughan is evident in the writing. It is an economical style used here, with multi-faceted viewpoints included that all shade the same incident and varied personal encounters in different hues. The greatest strength of ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL is that it instantly seems quite familiar; we feel we have read of the events detailed in the book somewhere in real life, in the recent past. All the major characters are successful people, living and working in the rarefied atmosphere of the British upper class and its political system. Precious opportunities are squandered, and the privilege of serving your country is taken as a right by its entitled male politicians.

Courtroom dramas are always a treat when done well and those in ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL are the culmination of our reader expectations - eagerly anticipated and not disappointed. Timely and carefully presented, the events in ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL have a greater impact for not being lavishly over dramatized and will continue to spark weighty conversations amongst its readers for some time.

A very interesting Political book with a few twists and turns to keep the reader interested. I found the book a bit slow halfway through but it picked up speed again about two thirds of the way through.

It is sad to read how the upper class rich people who attend the most prestigious schools think they have the privilege to take whatever they want with no consequences and I must say I was very happy to see that James Whitehouse was facing the consequences of his behaviour, or was he?

James Whitehouse didn't care how many lives he destroyed, he took what he thought was rightfully his to take, after all he was well schooled and best friends with the now Prime Minister. But there are many skeletons in the closets of these two and they are just about to be let out. After a very Public courtroom drama in which the opposing council was an unknown victim of his, James walks away a free man, he has lost his family but is finally clawing his way back to be in the good books again but it has finally come to light an incident on his last day at College and the cover up in the death of a friend he had done for the now Prime Minister, will Kate finally get her revenge?

Some parts of the book I found hard to follow but I did enjoy it nevertheless.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster (Australia) for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Anatomy of a Scandal is another book that I wiled away some quiet hours on my holiday with, yet it was far from a light summer read. This book is dark and twisted with a storyline that could easily trigger readers.

The narrative kept me guessing for quite a while because I kind of thought I knew what was going on but I couldn’t quite get the pieces to go together to paint the picture I was seeing.
I finished reading this nearly a month ago so it’s another review that is going to be a little tough for me to write, there’s been a lot going on since then….

James is a member of Parliament, he’s making a name for himself in his career. He is also a loving husband and father who comes from a prominent family and old money. James is also accused of a terrible crime. Sophie’s wedding vows saw her promise to stand by him and she believes in his innocence and wants nothing more than to protect her family from the fallout and the lies that threaten to tear them apart.
A high profile personality and a scandalous high profile court case makes great fodder for the tabloids, and the gossip mongers.
The story telling is a little jumpy as we follow the story from many perspectives, one of them being James. Perspectives change in alternating chapters through Sophie, Holly, James and Ali in the third person and Kate in the first. So I guess ultimately this is Kate’s story. She is the prosecutor of the case, she is aware that winning is all about who makes the best argument but the truth is also important to her. She is convinced James is guilty and determined to make him pay.
Anatomy of a Scandal gets quite dark and twisted because it isn’t all just about the alleged crime unfolding in the here and now. There is also a storyline unfolding in 1993 when Sophie and James were at Oxford, as were Holly and Ali.
It is in Oxford that we get to know James and really understand his personality type, and it’s not pretty. He may be attractive and charismatic but he is also arrogant and a lot of words that aren’t very nice but also don’t quite cover it. He is a character with a great public persona, there’s no denying that, but he is a character I certainly didn’t warm to.
The characters were all well drawn and realistic, their motivations were explored and we were able to get to know all of them well. It took a while to piece together all the elements which made for an interesting collection of theories on how it would all play out.
Sarah Vaughan is a talented author whose background in journalism has given her a great insight to the inner workings of situations like this. It is the first of her novels I have read but I hope that it won’t be the last.
Anatomy of a Scandal is a great read for those who love a good courtroom drama but some of the events in the book are likely to trigger past trauma. Vaughan explores themes of excess, the things that the ruling classes feel they can get away with, date rape, long term effects of trauma and the things that we put up with because we think it’s the best for our families. It’s a tale of friendship, of self evaluation and evolution and ultimately a take of power. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing what else Vaughan has to offer