Based on a True Story is Sarah Vaughan’s sixth book. Her previous psychological thrillers, Anatomy of a Scandal and Reputation, dealt with themes of power and privilege. Little Disasters explored the challenges of motherhood and the complexity of relationships. Based on a True Story is an intriguing mix of all of them. Who can resist the tale of Dame Eleanor Kingman, a successful author who fears that a dark secret from her past is about to be exposed at her 70th birthday party?
The book opens the day after the party. The first chapter is written from the perspective of Rachel, one of Eleanor’s three daughters, who describes the party as magical. It’s easy to visualise Eleanor’s large coastal manor in North Cornwall with about 100 guests mingling outside, enjoying the champagne and a string quartet. The fairy lights on the marquee are sparkling and there is a scent of jasmine in the air.
Things change quickly when a storm rolls in and the guests rush inside. Rachel realises that she has not seen Eleanor in over an hour. Fear that something may have happened to her mother sends Rachel scrambling down the cliff path to the beach. Once there, she spots a mound on the rocks and moving closer is dismayed by the realisation that the mound is really a dead body.
Now the author has our attention, the timeline shifts back to the days leading up to the party. Eleanor becomes the narrator. She has been a very successful children’s author for decades. It is obvious that she takes great pride in being a 40-million-copy bestseller. In spite of her success, Eleanor feels very unsettled when a young boy at a book event accuses her of lying.
Normally Eleanor would laugh off this type of encounter but she has been receiving anonymous, unpleasant emails over the last few months. They arrive to her personal email address rather than the public account managed by Gilly, her publicist and daughter. Clearly her stalker is someone she knows, not a stranger. The last email suggested that her birthday party would be an ideal time to expose the truth.
Eleanor is determined the party will be a success. She wants to enjoy it, which means completing the interviews for a documentary she’s taking part in before the event. Initially the interviews were with people in Eleanor’s inner circle. The list has expanded, which makes her nervous as she has not been entirely truthful about her past and has carefully edited her path from poverty to successful author. Not even her children know all of her secrets.
The perspectives of Eleanor’s daughters and her son-in-law are shared in chapters throughout the book. Her two eldest daughters are also her employees which can make for an interesting dynamic. Rachel manages her accounts and Gilly her publicity. Their childhood came before Eleanor’s success skyrocketed. Both feel somewhat resentful of their young sister, Cordelia, who has received much more attention and financial support from their mother.
Cordelia is an influencer with a large profile on social media. Her fans and family call her Delia. Her more pampered childhood seems to have given her a sense of entitlement. As the inspiration for the main character in the book that helped establish Eleanor’s success, Delia is also her mother’s favourite.
The name Cordelia and the jealousy of her sisters may have you thinking of Shakespeare’sKing Lear. There are several references to the play scattered here and there in the book. Cordelia and her ex-husband were delighted to have three daughters and the last name of Kingman. At the time of the party all three sisters have planned or done different things that Eleanor may see as betrayals.
Rachel, Gilly and Cordelia each have their own smaller plotlines that intertwine with the main story revealing Eleanor’s past. Rachel’s husband, Tom is involved in the drama as well. Vaughan’s focus is on the development of the characters. Everything that happens in the book is a very slow burn up to the party, which is the book’s climax and where the tension that has been building gradually suddenly explodes as Eleanor’s past catches up with her.
Also see The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill or Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen.
Simon & Schuster
Print/Kindle/iBook
£8.99
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
