Reputation begins with the body at the bottom of the stairs and the first part of this very good novel retraces the story that led to that point.

Emma Webster is an up and coming Labour MP who Guardian Weekend have featured on their cover. It’s a supportive feature with a strong photoshoot and, in a story of our times, it ignites social media trolls, alienates her from some of her colleagues and friends and a constituent begins a campaign of harassment against her. This creates an unbearable tension and fear in Emma’s life but equally and very powerfully it also has huge implications on the life of her young daughter.

Overtly strong, ambitious, capable women are unacceptable even in the 2020s. This is the main message behind the book - how prominent successful women are easily destroyed by perceptions and prejudice from long ago of how women should be. How the media and social media facilitate that. And how all this this shapes and destroys a reputation.

The book is in 2 parts Both parts are told from different perspectives - mainly Emma and her daughter Flora. The first part tells what happened after the publication of the article to finding the body. It seems slower and more disjointed as Sarah Vaughan weaves in Emma and Flora’s stories with chilling reactions from social media and the press and the pressure mounts as the reader begins to glimpse how this is going to end in tragedy. And as the tension mounts and Emma gets more and more anxious about how events are out of her control, so that anxiety was transmitted to this reader. There is a real sense of the menace of both social and mainstream media.

The second part is about the trial. Each day is described in detail with the prosecution and defence arguments laid bare, and its a compelling page turning tale. Was it murder or self defence? How are prominent women perceived in society, in the media, in a court. Who is fair game? As the jury retires, its hard to judge the outcome.

After the result, the final wrap up adds more layers to the story and explores whether mindsets have changed.

In Reputation, Sarah Vaughan has written another compelling novel with characters and events that speaks to the time. Its very thought provoking and eminently readable.


I am very grateful to NetGalley UK and Simon and Schuster UK for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great opening to the novel. Looking forward to reading the full novel and finding out more. Thanks for the opportunity to read.

Elegant, gripping and full of momentum, I enjoyed this political thriller!  
 
Synopsis -

As an MP of 4 years, Emma Webster, a divorced single mum, is known to rally for women’s issues. She is exhausted, constantly being under the media spotlight, as well as the unlimited trolling and online threats. Flora, her teenage daughter is also a victim of bullying. As Emma tries to balance her work, personal life, while also maintaining her reputation, her life is soon about to change forever.  
 
Review -
I was surprised to see multiple POVs of Flora and her step mum Caroline, apart from Emma’s. Vaughan has a unique style of writing, which necessitates focused reading. There is a certain degree of complexity to her sentences and she introduces us to so many new words! 
 
I loved how Vaughan examines a female politician’s life. Glamour and fame apart, we get to see what it really means to be under relentless media scrutiny. Emma is portrayed as an ambitious and charismatic woman, as if politics only comes to her like second nature.  
 
Hungry for a whiff or rumor of a scandal, both the press and social media, just seem to prey on her. The emphasis is on the fact that, the pressure is a notch higher, just because she is a woman.  
 
Flora's character was realistic - battling her loneliness, when her own friends turn into bullies, anxiety about her mother and teenage insecurities pushing her to limits.  
 
The first half moves slowly, but when Flora’s life gets entangled with Emma’s, the narrative picks up pace. The court room scenes were highly engrossing and I appreciated the descriptions of Emma’s expressions, body language and vulnerability.  
 
The best is saved for the last and that’s what kept the pages turning for me. Suddenly we have fresh POVs and revelations which I totally didn’t see coming. The ending is sure to put up a wicked grin on your face.  
 
A captivating thriller, definitely in the league of its predecessor Anatomy Of A Scandal.

I highly recommend this, if you love psychological thrillers with a political background. 
 
Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for granting my wish for this ARC!

„Reputation“ is the grim story of what it means to be a woman in a leading position and to stand in the public eye.

Emma Webster is a MP. During the week she stays in London and shares a house with to other female MPs. The weekend she spends with her fourteen year old daughter. Emma is divorced and her ex-husband lives with his new wife and he cares for Flora, their daughter, during the week. Emma is very busy. She is ambitioned and she is about to bring in a law against revenge porn. This brings her a lot of bullying on social media like twitter and via emails. Even on her private phone she receives threatening messages. Emmy files that as the price she has to pay being a public figure. One day she meets up with a reporter for dinner to celebrate bringing in the law. Emma is constantly working or worrying about Flora and she has been single for so long. Mike, the reporter is making her feel good and they end up spending the night together. But the next morning Emma is regretting it immediately. Mike is not taking her remorse lightly.

The story is extremely tangled and the author shows us how things built up to that terrible day a man dies in Emma’s shared house. It also gives us a disturbing look what it means to be a woman in a man’s world. Flaws are always worse when it comes to woman. Women are always judged by their looks and by their sexual appeal and we are all so used to it that we hardly recognize it as the assault that it actually is.

Sarah Vaughan has a sophisticated style and her stories are complex. I had a bit of a hard time to get into the book and connect to the characters. Actually, I never did connect to Emma or someone else. It felt a bit distant and it is scrupulously precise in showing us how this all lead to the dead of a man. It is also a court room drama and you have to enjoy this kind of book if you are going to enjoy this one. After some difficulties at the start at some point I really got interested and invested. You can easily see how important the topic is for the author and with good reason. It is not an easy read and it gives you a lot to think. I am sure the story will stay with me for a while.

Reputation is a gripping looking at the life of a female MP, and the way that being in the public eye can bring many challenges and, ultimately, ruin lives.

I think this book does a brilliant job at highlighting the pressure on people like this to be perfect, all of the time – and not just for them but also their whole family. Obviously, we hold MPs to a very high standard – and so we should! – but often we forget that they are, at the end of the day, also just real people with faults and weaknesses.

I really liked the main character Emma. She’s strong, determined and at the same time cares deeply. As the book goes on you truly feel for her, and though she makes some stupid decisions at times – mostly just because they’re automatic, knee-jerk reactions – you’re rooting for everything to be OK. I’d say all the characters in this novel are flawed in some way or the other, but they’re believable and well rounded, and I thought they added an extra layer of authenticity to the story.

There’s plenty going on in this twisty plot, from scandal to courtroom surprises, and the writing is brilliant. Sarah Vaughan has created a taut, suspenseful novel that kept me wanting to read on, without ever feeling overworked. There’s plenty of drama but it doesn’t feel too unbelievable or ridiculous – rather, it got me thinking about how I’d react in her situation.

Highly recommended.

This is a book about women, about power, about the use and misuse of the popular press. and the pressures public life can exert on private and family life. It is a book about the misuse of social media to terrorise. It is about lies and deceit But who is lying, and who is deceiving or has deceived who. A large part of the story covers a court case in which we the readers are in the same position as the jurors. Would we reach the same verdict? How far would we go to protect those we love?

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This is another court room legal thriller from this author. In this one, the focus is on an MP called Emma, who is a single parent and decides to do a high profile shoot for a paper promoting her recent legislation against revenge porn. This one shoot leads to Emma being on trial for murder. A murder she is adamant she didn’t commit.
We go through the story and see how it all weaves together and how Emma ended up in this position. We read about her downfall, and how her career and reputation is left in tatters. It also shines a light on very current issues, such as revenge porn, stalking, and online trolling. And how, when all of those elements come together, can ruin many peoples lives.
I really enjoyed this book, the writing was excellent. I liked all the characters, and felt they were all very relatable. Emma especially. I would highly recommend this book, especially if you have enjoyed this authors previous work.

Sarah Vaughan became a must-read author for me as soon as I read Anatomy Of A Scandal, so I was excited to have the opportunity to read this as soon as I heard about it. And she proved how hugely talented she is as this is another unputdownable, thought-provoking book that I absolutely loved, part thriller, part courtroom drama, a story about the dark side of politics that feels very current and all too real at times.

It is the story of Emma Webster, a high-profile Labour MP who loves her job and feels passionately about helping others. But her career has come at some personal cost – the failure of her marriage, a difficult relationship with her teenage daughter and the target of considerable online abuse and trolling, something which has only intensified following a recent campaign for a law to protect victims of revenge porn. Implicated in the death of a tabloid journalist she is forced to defend not only her own reputation but that of her daughter following a foolish split-second decision of her own. How far will she go to protect them both?

This is such a well-constructed book – cleverly told from multiple points of view, it is full of flawed but interesting characters dealing with very real issues. You cannot help but feel for Emma as she struggles to juggle the competing priorities in her life, all the while becoming more and more fearful as she faces an onslaught of personal attacks and trolling; her daughter Flora is going through some instantly recognizable teenage angst, not helped by the fact she has such a high profile mother. I loved the courtroom scenes, full of detail, tension and unexpected revelations, with the reader left rooting for Emma but really getting a sense of the challenges faced by the jury as they sift through the competing evidence in order to reach a conclusion.

Vaughan is be applauded for writing such a powerful book that manages to be utterly compelling and at the same time draws attention to some very topical issues. It is a book that I will be recommending to everyone I know, and one that will stay with me long after I have put it down.

I loved Anatomy of a Scandal and Little Disasters when I read them a while back and so I was really excited to get my hands on this book! Although also a bit scared that my expectation would not be reached. But it was, and exceeded! This book hit the ground running, sucked me in for the duration, holding me captive throughout, before spitting me out at the end exhausted but wholly satisfied.
We meet Emma, a former teacher who has, against the odds, been elected as an MP. Obviously with this prestige comes all the seedy stuff. The trolling, the threats, the insults and the long, long hours. She has the support of her family - husband and daughter, Flora - but she has sacrificed so much to get where she is that she is in danger of maybe sacrificing too much.
As with a lot of MPs, she has her causes and, when we first meet her, she is lobbying for more protection for women, mostly from online abuse.
I'm not going to say much more about the plot but with the addition of a dead body in the apartment Emma shares with two other women in London, we find her life spiralling out of control as she literally fights for her life...
I loved this book. OK so occasionally the pacing was a bit slow but then that reflects real life somewhat and, in my opinion, actually added to the frustration and claustrophobic feelings that Emma was going through. It also added to the tension overall and, unusually for me, compelled me to want to keep reading.
I took to Emma right from the off and was excited to see that she was actually the MP for where I live. I was looking forward to reading more about Portsmouth, but sadly apart from the odd mention and a rather strange description of a train journey, it really could have been set anywhere, so that disappointed me a tad. Not enough to irk me sufficiently to drop stars but I thought I'd mention it nevertheless.
A lot of the topics contained herein are quite high profile and, sadly, many of the issues are quite prevalent. You read about women's rights all the time in the press but we never seem to move on much. But I don't want to get all political about things, I'll be here forever if I start. Suffice to say that the topics are fresh and also handled very well. Especially with regard to Flora. But that's all I can say there. Spoilers.
All in all, another winner from an author who is shaping up nicely on my watch list. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is the novel of our times and is, sadly, representative of the abuse that women in powerful positions have to suffer.

Emma Webster is a newly elected MP who wins at the first time of standing. This change in her life has lead to the breakdown of her marriage and, as she splits her time between London and her constituency, it has also damaged the relationship she has with her 14 year old daughter. Complicating this is the fact that Emma's former friend, Caroline, has now married Emma's ex husband and spends more time with Flora than Emma does. Emma elects to press for a change to online abuse laws following the suicide of one of her constituents who was the victim of revenge porn. As Emma takes up this challenge she becomes victim to stalking, trolling and invasive media scrutiny. Meanwhile, Emma's daughter, Flora, is suffering at the hands of a school bully who used to be her friend. Incessantly teased by the bully, Flora has her PE kit stolen and hidden and, in a moment of extreme anger, snaps a video of her tormentor showing off in the changing rooms in just her underwear and sends it to a boy.

It isn't long before Emma is on a collision course with the police and the very law that she has helped to enact. With the ratcheting up of tension and pressure, Emma makes some decisions that ultimately lead to her sitting in the dock accused of a murder that she denies....but how guilty is Emma?

This book flips back and to between characters giving all the major players a voice. We hear Emma's perspective, Flora's thoughts on her bullying, and Caroline's take on the events as she struggles to steer a path between being a friend and being a step mother. The first half of the book is taken up with how Emma comes to be charged with murder, and the second half deals with the trial. The time line slips back and to so that we experience the events leading up to the trial in the same way that Emma experiences them and this allows us to really feel her paranoia in the wake of the torrent of abuse that she suffers.

Current and highly relevant it allows us a peek behind the curtain of what public life is like. Just a small browse on social media shows you that this is highly representative of what women in the public eye have to face and this shows how quickly it can go from bad to worse. The way it is considered as 'just part of the job' is staggering.

Reputation is an interesting read because it is multifaceted. Does the title refer to the reputation of the MP, her daughter or the actions of the press? For me, it's a combination of the three.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very suspenseful slow burn, told in different POV. Each chapter adds a little detail to the story and gives you a new hint, so the story builds on chapter by chapter, with the result that you find yourself buried in a real page-turner.
This is my first Vaughan's novel and I am amazed by her beautiful and effective writing! On top of that I've also found the plot and topics very modern and contemporary. As soon as I fished this one I bought myself Anatomy of a Scandal and can't wait to dig into it as well!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A couple of years ago I got off the bus one late Saturday afternoon after spending the day in Newcastle with a friend. It was winter, and was cold and dark, and as I walked along the path past the Doctor’s surgery towards home I realised that a car was driving slowly alongside me. My street was in sight, but there wasn’t anybody else around. As I hurried down the path, the yellow grit bin at the entrance to my street acting like a beacon, the car didn’t break pace. I couldn’t bear to look. I didn’t want to get eye contact with whoever was in the car. I got my keys out my bag and held them in my hand. Just in case. As I reached the entrance to my street and turned in, the car drove away. It was then I discovered that it had been a police car. What I didn’t know until later was that there had been a robbery in the next village and they were looking for the perpetrator.

The fear I felt as I walked down the path, wondering whether I should make my way to the local pub to call my husband to come and get me, or if I was better off walking towards home has stayed with me. I was reminded of it when reading Reputation because this fear is a daily occurrence for the protagonist, MP Emma Webster. I think most women have felt this unrelenting terror at some point in our lives, but Emma is a woman in the public eye, and so the terror is magnified.

When Emma holds meetings in her constituency a chair is positioned in front of the table at which she sits, to be used as a way to slow down a would-be attacker. She and her team formulate an escape plan in case of emergency, and the two 1.5 litre bottles of water on the desk are there in case acid is thrown at her. Then there are the faceless threats. The Twitter messages which threaten to rape her. The emails from anonymous accounts criticising her and criticising her looks. Comments where people say they will knife her.

As a female MP who is working on an act to make revenge porn illegal she has her head well and truly above the parapet. When a man is found injured at the bottom of the stairs in the house in London she shares with two other female MPs, she finds herself on trial at the Old Bailey. Slipping back and forth in time Vaughan creates a meticulously plotted narrative which fizzes with anger at the way women are treated in the public eye, at how we feel unsafe on a daily basis and the horror of abuse on social media.

Reputation is a book to really get your teeth into. It’s multi-layered, nuanced, nail bitingly tense and very, very clever. In Emma, Vaughan has given us an empathetic character who is utterly believable. She wants to do the very best for her constituents and knows that she must work hard to do this, but the flip side of this is that she is away from her young teenage daughter.

I felt I knew Emma. I certainly understood her passion and her work ethic and her acceptance that as a woman in a male dominated she must work twice as hard as a male MP. Her knowledge that she cannot afford any slip ups and must always be at her best, and I felt her fear as she sat in the dock at the Old Bailey.

Reputation is an immersive and compelling book which I urge you to read. It’s one of my favourites of the year so far, as I was totally absorbed by it. I had no idea where it was going and as more and more was revealed I fell harder and harder for it. Vaughan is a very skilled and astute writer who has created in Reputation an intelligent read.

I was fortunate to be given a preview of Chapter 1 of Reputation having loved An Anatomy of a Scandal. and Little Disasters.

I was hooked from the start, the feeling you get that something big is going to play out as you read on means I cannot wait to get my hands on the full book.

I was given a preview of the 1st chapter by NetGalley and the publishers.

I really liked Reputation. It made me feel such fury at the unfairness of a system where women in the public eye are held under constant scrutiny and criticism. It was definitely page-turning although also made me feel deeply uneasy at times (in a good way, I think).

The overall story of Emma Watson was interesting and relevant as she fought to defend her family and her own reputation. It raised some key issues about bullying,female role models and friendship in a highly empathetic way. I felt the court room arguments occupied to much of the text and I found myself skipping some pages. Overall, the tension build up was well done and made for a good read.

Reputation by Sarah Vaughan is a tense page turner of a book that certainly kept me guessing to the very end. Having previously read and very much enjoyed Anatomy of A Scandal by this author my hopes were high for a well told story with interesting and well written characters and some social commentary and I was certainly not disappointed. Set in the political arena, Reputation is the story of M.P. Emma Webster who finds herself on trial for the murder of a tabloid journalist with whom she previously had a working and sexual relationship. Of course the story is not quite as simple as that but to say too much more would spoil the readers enjoyment, so all I will say is that the courtroom scenes rival those from some of the best big budget legal dramas out there. What really stood out to me while reading however was the author's message about women in the public eye and how they are treated in social media and beyond, the trolling, harassment and threats , which can sometimes spill over into real world tragedy, and how acceptance of that leads to acceptance of similar treatment for all women. Absolutely gripping, a book that I simply could not put down and have already recommended to several friends
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Having read Sarah Vaughan's previous book Anatomy of a Scandal I was excited to be able to read her new novel, Reputation, ahead of publication. The main character Emma Webster is an MP whose political career took off rather more quickly than expected when she was elected first time as a candidate. The pressures this put on her family caused her marriage to crumble, leaving her as a part-time parent to daughter Flora while her husband sought the company offered in the arms of his daughter's music teacher. Emma is left with huge trust issues which, together with the long-term effects of the abuse she receives on a daily basis in the course of her work, have the worst possible consequences.
This book gives us a taste of what it must be like to be a prominent figure in the public eye. MPs, celebrities from TV and film, the music industry, big business and royalty are all in the spotlight in our media - but does their job/position mean that it's okay for them to be subject of scrutiny 24-7? Are they not allowed a modicum of privacy in their lives? It's not a position I would ever wish to find myself in.
The pacing of the storytelling is spot on, with timely switches between events as they happen, references to historical events and also the ensuing court case as it happens. The emotions of the various characters are presented to us, the ripple effect of how one person's actions knock-on to family, friends and even those without any particularly strong connections to us. The author manages to keep sufficient information up her sleeve in order to give us a great conclusion to the book - one which caught me completely off guard; I was kicking myself though, because the clues are there however only with the benefit of hindsight.
An excellent read which had me completely invested from the first page to the very last paragraph.

I only received the first chapter of this book to my e reader, it states clearly at the top ‘First chapter only’

Why? What is the point of sending only one chapter for review purposes?

I was intrigued by the one chapter I was granted, enjoyed it very much, and my appetite was whetted for the entire story. Is this simply a ploy to encourage readers to purchase the book?

I will probably buy it when it is published, but I am not enamoured of this style of marketing.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the one chapter I was teased with!

This is a story which could so easily be true.. The treatment of people via social media and the press is something we should all be ashamed of, what have we become as a society. The characters in the story are very real and the tension high throughout. I thought the conclusion was great. Maybe be in time social media and the press will be more controllable.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, which I did enjoy.
Very apt for the current climate with our frenzy for more and more information about our MP's and their lives away from their public persona. I found Emma to be refreshingly candid about her thoughts and actions, and the manipulation of the media whilst it suited, and her struggles as a Mother, ex-wife, friend, working Mum and someone who just wanted sex were displayed for the reader to absorb and judge.
The plot was cleverly woven with enough drama to keep you second guessing the end twist, but sufficient domestic drudgery to keep it all real.