Book Cover

Based on a True Story

Contributor(s): Vaughan, Sarah (Author), Stevenson, Juliet (Read by)

ISBN: 9798228982772

Publisher: HarperCollins

$49.99
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Pub Date: June 9, 2026

Lexile Code: 0000

Features: Unabridged

Target Age Group: NA to NA

Physical Info: 1.11" H x 5.51" L x 5.71" W ( 0.48 lbs) pages

BISAC Categories:

Fiction | Thrillers | Crime | Women | Domestic

Descriptions, Reviews, etc.

Description:

"Vaughan is simply a genius at immersing you in simmering tensions and turning up the heat."--Ellery Lloyd

"A stunning novel."--Gilly Macmillan

"A flawlessly constructed thriller, perfectly paced and filled with smart reveals. This is a read-in-one-sitting delight of a novel!"--Lucy Clarke
A compelling thriller about power, money and lies from the author of Anatomy of a Scandal, grippingly narrated in audio by BAFTA-nominated actress Juliet Stevenson.

All families have secrets. But it's the lies that can kill.

A lavish seventieth birthday party. A body found on a storm-lashed beach. And a secret that someone is dying to tell... .

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

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

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

With a television crew arriving to film a documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email--and preserve her legacy and multimillion-pound career.

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

Brief description:

Sarah Vaughan is the Sunday Times and international bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal, Little Disasters and Reputation, plus two earlier novels. Translated into 26 languages, Anatomy of a Scandal became a Richard & Judy Book of the Decade and a global number one Netflix limited series. Little Disasters became a number one Paramount Plus series, while Reputation is being developed for TV. Before writing fiction, Sarah spent 15 years as a journalist, including 11 at the Guardian as a political correspondent and news reporter. Brought up in Devon, she lives near Cambridge, England with her family.

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