Thanks to Sarah Vaughan for a thoroughly enjoyable read and to Gransnet for choosing it . I found this to be a real page-turner and read it in the course of a single day. The author’s career in journalism and as a political correspondent gave the novel an air of authenticity, with an eerie relevance to the current debate concerning the attitudes to and experiences of women in Westminster and beyond.
Anatomy of a Scandal examines how the perception of the truth can vary: alternating perspectives between Kate, Sophie and James, the novel follows the ensuing high profile trial, as we are privy to the characters’ inner motivations, rationalizations and self-delusions. The novel also alternates between 1993 Oxford and 2016 London. The author does an excellent job at both the alternating time and place narratives. As the novel proceeds, more secrets from 1993 Oxford turn up.
At its most basic, the idea of powerful and privileged men getting away with things while people turn a blind eye is nothing new, and neither are Conservative Party sex scandals. We’re also all too familiar with tales of the Bullingdon Club (with past members such as Cameron, Osborne and Boris Johnson), inspiration I assume for the Libertines, as it was for the Bollinger Club in Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. I also experienced a sense of déjà vu as I followed Kate: I had a picture of Maxine Peake in my mind, as she was in the BBC drama Silk, along with her clerk (Billy?) as Kate’s clerk Brian.
However, the way in which the author weaves the past and present together, allows the story to be seen through the perspectives of different characters, and gradually reveals the secrets from the past which impact the present make this a thought provoking read.
My question for the author is an obvious one, I'm afraid: is this likely to be made into a film or to feature on the radio or TV?