Based on a True Story by Vaughan, Sarah;

Short description:

Once upon a time there was a family. Everything else is a lie. The compelling new novel about power, money and lies from the author of Anatomy of a Scandal.

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Long description:

ALL FAMILIES HAVE SECRETS. BUT IT'S THE LIES THAT CAN KILL.

The compelling new novel about power, money and lies from the author of Anatomy of a Scandal.

‘A flawlessly constructed thriller, perfectly paced and filled with smart reveals!’ LUCY CLARKE, The Castaways

‘A rich, intoxicating brew, I loved it’ LOUISE CANDLISH, Our House

‘The ultimate literary thriller!’ VERONICA HENRY, The Beach Hut

A&&&160;lavish 70th birthday party.&&&160;A&&&160;body found on&&&160;a&&&160;storm-lashed beach.&&&160;And&&&160;a&&&160;secret that someone&&&160;is dying&&&160;to tell...&&&160;

Famed children’s&&&160;author Dame Eleanor Kingman has summoned her family&&&160;and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs. They're celebrating her birthday –&&&160;and her latest number one bestseller&&&160;in her series of books based on&&&160;a&&&160;mother fox&&&160;and her cubs.

But the night before the party, Eleanor receives&&&160;an email:&&&160;an email that threatens to expose the lie she’s kept up&&&160;for&&&160;over half&&&160;a&&&160;century.

Someone knows her secret.&&&160;Is&&&160;it her estranged literary&&&160;agent?&&&160;Is&&&160;it her ex-husband, to whom she no longer speaks?&&&160;Is&&&160;it the nanny she fired&&&160;all those years&&&160;ago, who&&&160;always did&&&160;have&&&160;a&&&160;knack&&&160;for&&&160;storytelling? Or&&&160;is&&&160;it one of her three daughters,&&&160;all of whom&&&160;have&&&160;a&&&160;stake&&&160;in the publishing empire she has built...

With&&&160;a&&&160;TV&&&160;crew&&&160;arriving to film&&&160;a&&&160;documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email –&&&160;and preserve her multimillion-pound career.

But when push comes to shove,&&&160;and&&&160;it's time to tell the truth –&&&160;will&&&160;anyone&&&160;actually believe her?

‘A flawlessly constructed thriller, perfectly paced and filled with smart reveals. This is a read-in-one-sitting delight of a novel!’ LUCY CLARKE, The Castaways

‘There’s a dangerous sense of reckoning in the air as the eminent Kingman family gather at their Cornish clifftop house to celebrate matriarch Eleanor&&&39;s success – and just possibly to kill each other in the process. A rich, intoxicating brew, I loved it’ LOUISE CANDLISH, Our House

‘Sarah’s elegant prose, stunning descriptions and nuanced characters are all wrapped up in a cracking plot with a ticking clock – the ultimate literary thriller! Secrets, lies, subterfuge, scandal and sibling rivalry – the perfect recipe for a page-turner. I devoured it!’ VERONICA HENRY, The Beach Hut

‘Glorious Cornish clifftops, a glittering party and a swirling vortex of family secrets . . . Sarah Vaughan lobs an explosive cocktail into Golden Age Crime to create something wholly new and deeply satisfying. I drank it up’ SARAH HILARY  

‘Sarah Vaughan is one of my go-to writers and a modern, female re-telling of King Lear is exactly the sort of brilliance I have come to expect from her. This is a compelling story, with deep roots, which asks us to think about the stories we tell not just publicly, but also privately, to make up a life. It manages that rare trick of being both addictive and thoughtful’ ARAMINTA HALL  

‘Three sisters gather to celebrate with their narcissistic mother. I could literally feel the tension and frustration simmering between the lines. Wonderful storytelling’ EMMA CURTIS 

‘Vaughan sets in motion the final, tragic act of a decades-long family drama. She writes beautifully and incisively; her evocative prose is spiked with sharp observations and insights that spare nobody. Sibling rivalries are stretched to breaking point, secrets leak, and loyalties quiver. When lucrative fame is a member of the family and storytelling is part of your DNA, nothing is predictable. A stunning novel’ GILLY MACMILLAN 

 ‘A real pressure cooker of a novel – tense, immersive, and brilliantly told. I genuinely couldn&&&39;t put it down. And the Cornish clifftop setting leapt from the page, with all of its drama and dangerous beauty’ EMYLIA HALL  

 ‘A rollicking, thrilling read, Based on a True Story snares from the first page with its deliciously dysfunctional, glamorous family, bristling with characters to love or loathe, and a seductive Cornish setting. Another Sarah Vaughan cracker. I loved it’ EVE CHASE, The Midnight Hour 

 ‘What&&&39;s not to love? A matriarch with buried secrets, an explosive party at a clifftop house and a family rapidly unravelling – a deliciously twisty page-turner that also packs a real emotional punch. Vaughan is simply a genius at immersing you in simmering tensions and turning up the heat’ ELLERY LLOYD, The Club

‘Utterly addictive, surprising and full of characters you’ll love to hate’ LOUISE BEECH  

&&&39;This is certainly one party no one will forget. With a cast of characters I loved to hate and secrets galore, I couldn&&&39;t turn the pages fast enough. Smart, propulsive and so much fun . . . I loved it’ NIKKI SMITH 

‘Are there better words than ‘there&&&39;s a new Sarah Vaughan coming out?’ Vaughan&&&39;s books race along so thrillingly – you can never put them down. I zoomed through Based on a True Story, but the characters have really stayed with me. Vaughan had created a delightfully suspicious group of party-goers, all with their own questionable ambitions and motives. I particularly adored the Cornish setting – Vaughan captures the light and magic of that coastline so beautifully’ HOLLY WATT  

‘What a delight to be back with Sarah Vaughan&&&39;s writing, and in particular to back in Cornwall. A sparkling, clever and compelling tale of power, money, lies and the stories we tell ourselves to survive’ ANNA MAZZOLA  

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