Sarah Vaughan
Based on a True Story

Tuesday 23 June 2026, 7.00pm
Chelmsford Library, County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1QH

Sarah Vaughan, million copy best-selling author of Anatomy of a Scandal, talks about her latest ‘utterly addictive’ thriller, Based on a True Story – a compelling novel about power, money and lies. A famed children’s author summons her family and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs but on the eve of a lavish party someone threatens to expose the lie she’s kept up for over half a century.

‘Wholly absorbing and utterly addictive, with that perfect blend of twisty plot and stunning prose that readers have come to expect from Sarah Vaughan. One of my favourite books of the year’

– Andrea Mara

Event Information

💬 The event will include an audience Q&A session.
📚 Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the day.
🖊️ After the event there will be an opportunity to get the book signed by the author.
🪑 Seats are unallocated.
📸 We will be filming and taking photos at this event.

Sarah Vaughan

Photo of Sarah Vaughan © Johnny Ring

Brought up in Devon, Sarah Vaughan read English at Oxford and went on to become a journalist. After training at the Press Association, she spent eleven years at the Guardian as a news reporter, political correspondent and health correspondent, before leaving to freelance and write fiction. Her previous novels include Anatomy of a Scandal, an instant international bestseller translated into 22 languages and adapted for a major Netflix series in 2022. Sarah’s fourth novel Little Disasters has recently come to screen starring Diane Kruger, airing on Paramount+ in 2025. Based on a True Story is Sarah’s sixth novel, publishing in March 2026.

Based on a True Story

The major new release from Sarah Vaughan, million copy bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal.

All families tell stories. And some of them tell lies…

Generations of children have grown up with Dame Eleanor Kingman’s stories. Her status as the country’s best-loved storyteller is unrivalled. But now it is under attack, because whilst her fans regard her as a national treasure, someone seems to know the truth about who she really is…

Eleanor is turning seventy and marking the occasion with a beautiful party at her new clifftop Cornish home. A retrospective television documentary has been commissioned to commemorate her, whilst the great and the good from the literary world will be there to toast her success. But as her three daughters and her many friends gather, alongside shadowy characters from her past (and present), the stories Eleanor has been telling for decades about her own life and family begin to feel less and less convincing.

Buy a copy of the book from bookshop.org.

‘I absolutely devoured this book. A predictably gripping read by one of the masters of the genre. I can completely see this stunning book as a mini-series… An absolute triumph. Hooked all the way to that thrilling end. And what a master stroke misdirection!’
– Imran Mahmood

‘Smartly plotted and wickedly fun; the secrets and revelations just keep coming.’

– Clare Fuller

‘A juicy, atmospheric and unpredictable family thriller which employs both schadenfreude and empathy to have the reader switching sides with every chapter.’

– Erin Kelly