The Favour By Laura Vaughan

‘The Favour’ is the latest book by Laura Vaughan.

When she was thirteen years old, Ada Howell lost not just her father, but the life she felt she was destined to lead. Now, at eighteen, Ada is given a second chance when her wealthy godmother gifts her with an extravagant art history trip to Italy. In the palazzos of Venice, the cathedrals of Florence and the villas of Rome, she finally finds herself among the kind of people she aspires to be: sophisticated, cultured, privileged. Ada does everything in her power to prove she is one of them. And when a member of the group dies in suspicious circumstances, she seizes the opportunity to permanently bind herself to this gilded set. But everything hidden must eventually surface, and when it does, Ada discovers she’s been keeping a far darker secret than she could ever have imagined.

‘The Favour’ is an interesting story of lust, jealousy and obsession about one woman’s watchful eye on the sidelines that gives her power when she witnesses something that could potentially ruin other people’s lives.

The story is seen through the narrative of Ada Howell, stepdaughter to a famous author who sadly passes away, resulting in Ada and her mother leaving Wales for London and a completely different life. Although Anthony Howell was not Ada’s biographical father, she was close to the man and aspired to be a writer like him, name dropping him at every opportunity. Looking forward to going to Oxford University, her aunt Delilah has the grand idea that Ada should go on Dilettanti Discoveries, a tour of Italy. It’s whilst on this tour, that she makes life long friends including the rich and sophisticated siblings Annabelle and Lorcan. But one night a terrible tragedy occurs when one of the students falls to her death and the 3 are the only witnesses.

The story flows over a number of years, as Ada uses her power of knowledge from that particular night to get close within the folds of Lorcan’s and Annabelle society and achieve success. Although she is not openly threatening the duo, they are aware of the favour, but others in the circle particularly Oliver, a pompous character who dislikes Ada is suspicious of the close friendship. Ada also dislikes Oliver, as whilst in Italy, they were both vying for the attention for their fellow peers with arguments and childish remarks.

For me, this book was an interesting story but I really disliked Ada and I occasionally I found this to be frustrating reading. She was deceitful, sneaky but terribly clever and not remorseful of her actions but that probably made her a great character. She longs to be on the inside and not on the sidelines and will stop at nothing to achieve success whether that’s using her father’s name to her advantage or witness to a young girl’s death where she only knows the truth of that night.

‘The Favour’ is an fascinating and intelligent story seen from the narrative of a dislikable character that keeps the reader on edge with this atmospheric story of lust and ambition.

You can buy ‘The Favour’ from Amazon.