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 was a novel I fell into, it moves slowly but surely through an ever changing character driven drama where the people you meet are not always likeable but always utterly compelling.
Ada, our main protagonist, feels a lot of entitlement, her family having fallen from grace, she broods internally about how therefore to achieve the life she feels she deserves. An impromptu trip to Italy seems to offer Ada the connections she so craves, an in with the elite of the world she thinks she truly belongs in, but her machinations may not end well…
Italy comes to life under the pen of Laura Vaughan who writes with a vivid immersive quality that is a joy to read. She sets the reader up beautifully, letting the characters speak and their actions resonate, until the pitch perfect, unexpected finale hits home.
I loved this. It is a literary page turner with a mystery twist and one of those books where the characters will stay with you long after you turn that final page.
Highly recommended.
You can purchase The Favour (Corvus) Here.
Happy reading!
