Based on a True Story

"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 novel about power, money and lies from the author of Anatomy of a Scandal.

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?

Author: Sarah Vaughan
Publisher: Harper
Published: 06/09/2026
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.01h x 6.01w x 1.41d
ISBN: 9780063457713


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/13/2026
Library Journal 04/10/2026 pg. 1
Booklist 05/01/2026

About the Author
Vaughan, Sarah: -

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.