Shelf Indulgence Book Club

  “Astonishingly timely and clever, it’s also utterly gripping.” —Lucy Foley, #1  New York Times  bestselling author “Sarah Vaughan has done it again. Superb.” —Shari Lapena,  New York Times  bestselling author The bestselling author of  Anatomy of a Scandal —now a hit Netflix series—returns with a new psychological thriller about a politician whose less-than-perfect personal life is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home. As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career—including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora.  A former teacher, the glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats, and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. As a woman, she knows her reputation is worth its weight in gold but as a politician, she discovers it only takes one slip-up to destroy it completely.  Fourteen-year-old Flora is learning the s...

Sarah Vaughan read English at Oxford and went on to become a journalist. After training at the Press Association, she spent eleven years at the Guardian as a news reporter and political correspondent before leaving to freelance and write fiction. Her first two novels, The Art of Baking Blind and The Farm at the Edge of the World, were followed by her first psychological thriller, Anatomy of a Scandal: a Sunday Times bestseller, and Richard & Judy pick of the decade, developed as a Netflix series starring Rupert Friend, Michelle Dockery and Sienna Miller. Her fourth novel, Little Disasters, a Waterstone’s thriller of the month, was published in 2020.  Reputation  is her fifth novel. Today, Sarah Vaughan is on the blog to answer a few of our questions about her latest novel. Read on … Sarah Vaughan (Photo by Phil Mynott). Please tell us about your book,  Reputation ! SV:   Reputation ’s a political thriller/courtroom drama about a Labour MP who stands trial for mur...

  Don’t Look For Me   is a thrilling novel about a woman who is lost, in more than one way. Despondent, depressed, steeped in self-blame, self-loathing, and surrounded by a family who supports her in both, Molly does not know how to proceed. She gets stranded near a gas station, and reluctantly accepts the help from a stranger and a young girl who reminds her of her lost daughter. Molly goes missing.                 Wendy Walker joined our group ready to tell us about her process, challenges, and inspiration while writing   Don’t Look For Me.   Driving back from her son’s soccer game, Wendy saw a road at a gas station. For a moment, just a single moment, the weight of being a parent, of watching her children now old enough to endure the harshness of the world, led to a prick of a thought to just go down that road and leave everything behind. The thought faded as quickly as it had sparked, but her entire...

  We were so lucky today to have  Wendy Walker  here with our book club to join us for our discussion of Don't Look For Me. We wanted to share the discussion with those that couldn't make it but may have loved the book as much as we did:  Play Video   Enjoy! 

Synopsis: They said she walked away. But what really happened to Molly Clarke?  From the bestselling author of  All Is Not Forgotten  comes Don't Look for Me, a compelling and emotionally powerful story of a daughter's desperate search to find her mother before it's too late. They called it a “walk away.” The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family. It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to start over. But what really happened to Molly Clarke? The night Molly disappeared began with a storm, running out of gas, and a man offering her a ride to safety. But when the doors lock shut, Molly begins to suspect she has made a terrible mistake. A new lead brings Molly’s daughter, Nicole, back to the small, desolate town where her mother was last seen to renew the desperate search. The locals are sympathetic and eager to help. The innkeeper. The bartender. Even the police. Until secrets begin to reveal themselves and Nicole...

  The Synopsis  Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection. But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targe...