Cornish thriller: ‘Based on a True Story’ by Sarah Vaughan

Having been enthralled by Sarah Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal (2018), and Reputation (2018) (my review), I jumped at the opportunity to read an advance copy of her latest novel.

Like the previous books, this one is of the crime/thriller genre, with a hefty dose of family and psychological dysfunction thrown into the mix.

It concerns a famous British children’s author, Dame Eleanor Kingman, and her three daughters, who have come together to celebrate Eleanor’s 70th birthday with a grand party at her beautiful estate on the Cornish coast.

There is something about the Cornish landscape that has inspired great fiction: thinkof Daphne du Maurier’s amazing stories. I have read quite a few contemporary novels with the Cornish moors, or wild cliffs and errant tides as their background. Having been to Cornwell, I can certainly understand the attraction. It is a stunning part of England and so easy to imagine smugglers dragging contraband spirits or tobacco in or out of one of its many seaside caves.

This novel uses that evocative setting well. The ocean, the beautiful but treacherous sea, and the steep cliffs on Eleanor’s property, all become symbolic of the characters’ various states of distress as the tale is told.

The publisher’s tag line for the book is: Once upon a time there was a family. Everything else is a lie.

It pretty much sums up the theme. Every main character (and a few of the minor ones) has a secret, some more damaging or dangerous than others. Eleanor’s secret would threaten her career, her status as a literary icon, and the very comfortable life she has established, were it to become known. Her distress at the possiblity of it being uncovered by someone who wishes her harm is palpable and ramps up over the course of the novel.

One plot point which puzzled me was why, given this anxiety, Eleanor agrees to invite a documentary filmmaker to interview her – and her staff, friends, family and associates – for a profile piece about her life and career. Hubris? A desire to craft her own public legacy? Whatever the motivation, it goes horribly wrong and this forms the core of the story.

Sarah Vaughan is very good at getting into her characters’ heads, making the reader privy to their thoughts, their hopes and desires and yes, their fears. In this novel there are multiple viewpoints, though the story does centre around Eleanor and her daughters.

As the party draws closer, the tension mounts and the stakes increase for all. The wild Cornish sea and its cliffs play a key part in the drama, as we would expect.

I will admit I did not enjoy this one as much as the previous books by this author that I have read. That said, I still found it engrossing to the point where I was tempted to read way past my ‘lights out time’. If you like a finely drawn psychological drama, you will enjoy Based on a True Story.

Based on a True Story is published by Simon & Schuster in March, 2026.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.