Auntie M had read a lot about Sarah Vaughn’s book, Anatomy of a Scandal, garnering great reviews in the UK, and decided to see what all the commotion was about.

Kate Woodcroft is a divorced London barrister who lives for her work, and who’s just lost a case and is looking for a meaty one. She thinks she’s found it when a young woman brings a rape suit against a James Whitehouse, a junior minister with a storied career ahead of him. He’s a friend and Oxford buddy of the Prime Minister, no less.

Sophie is James’s wife, and with their young son and daughter, she can hardly believe the way their world has been turned upside-down by her husband’s infidelity. He’s had to confess to an affair with an aide, Olivia Lytton, and swears the rape charge is due to him realizing the error of his ways and ending the brief affair.

Sophie wants to believe James. But should she?

There are many facets to what at first appears to be a straight-forward case. Was James disarmed by the charming Olivia and she reacted badly when he called their affair off? Or is he a spoiled, privileged man who feels what he wants is there for the taking?

Kate’s case takes a personal turn she hides from the court that will have disastrous results.

Told from alternating points of view of Sophie and Kate, and sometimes James himself, the three young people’s lives are dissected with chapters in the past showing how each has reached this stage of their lives, with past traumas revealed.

A fascinating look at whether we really know someone.