The Favour by Laura Vaughan is her debut adult novel. A thriller that follows Ada Howell, a young woman who is attempting to find her own place within the world. Ada decides before she goes to university to take an Art History trip to Italy with a particular group of people the 'Dilettante'. Ada wants to be everything that the 'Dilettante' are privileged, cultured and sophisticated.
We spend the first part of the book getting to know Ada and the people she is with as they all explore what Italy has to offer. Laura Vaughan has really done a great job with her descriptions of Italy and it is easy to be immersed in the atmospheric writing. I found I was picturing the group wandering around the streets which really brought the book to life.
As the story develops, quite slowly at first, I thought it was a good pace as it gives you time to settle into the story and you are familiar with characters as you go. Then as one of the group dies and this really grabs you and keeps you there. Laura Vaughan has done it in a way that, even though it is included in the synopsis it still shocks. From here I was definitely turning pages, and at speed!
After this event the story moves on and we see the group all move on and either getting married, having kids, working ir going through University. We see Ada still striving to be a part of the group and ensuring she seems to be a member that is worth keeping in the circle as such. This section of the story is more about all the relationships between the characters and I liked to see how much Ada cared about the opinions of the group still.
A story that is one that takes us over many years and we see the lies, secrets and even the misunderstandings that shape this groups relationships with themselves and sometimes others. A very clever and interesting book that I would recommend easily.
Thanks to Random Things Tours, Corvus Books and Netgalley for my copy of the book.
We spend the first part of the book getting to know Ada and the people she is with as they all explore what Italy has to offer. Laura Vaughan has really done a great job with her descriptions of Italy and it is easy to be immersed in the atmospheric writing. I found I was picturing the group wandering around the streets which really brought the book to life.
As the story develops, quite slowly at first, I thought it was a good pace as it gives you time to settle into the story and you are familiar with characters as you go. Then as one of the group dies and this really grabs you and keeps you there. Laura Vaughan has done it in a way that, even though it is included in the synopsis it still shocks. From here I was definitely turning pages, and at speed!
After this event the story moves on and we see the group all move on and either getting married, having kids, working ir going through University. We see Ada still striving to be a part of the group and ensuring she seems to be a member that is worth keeping in the circle as such. This section of the story is more about all the relationships between the characters and I liked to see how much Ada cared about the opinions of the group still.
A story that is one that takes us over many years and we see the lies, secrets and even the misunderstandings that shape this groups relationships with themselves and sometimes others. A very clever and interesting book that I would recommend easily.
Thanks to Random Things Tours, Corvus Books and Netgalley for my copy of the book.