Sarah Vaughan read English at Oxford and went on to become a journalist. After eleven years at the Guardian working as a news reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent, she started freelancing. The Art of Baking Blind is her first novel and she is now working on her second. Sarah lives near Cambridge with her husband and two small children.
The Night Stairs (2026) Erin Kelly "The gothic thriller Erin Kelly was born to write. Ferociously clever, witty, and immersive, it perfectly captures the pain of being a bullied outsider, the intensity of female friendships, and the nastiness of teenage girls. All while serving devilish twists. Her best yet."
The Secret Thread (2026) Eve Chase "An exquisite stately home caught in the stultifying summer's heat; ripe gardens and inviting river. First love and sexual awakenings. Glamorous interiors. A story waiting to be unravelled and understood. Chase's numerous fans are in for a treat with a propulsive mystery, luminous writing, and characters who stayed with me. Quite possibly her best yet."
Hunger and Thirst (2026) Claire Fuller "Unremittingly unsettling, propulsive and tense. Fuller excels at depicting outsiders, and writes with such precision and economy. Truly terrifying."
The Good Listener (2026) Holly Watt "An ingenious hook, expertly developed and carried through in a typically propulsive, intelligent read. Watt manages to take the most disturbing of subjects and avoid making it feel exploitative or mawkish. Her love of Dartmoor - wild and secretive - shines through, even as we understand its danger, but it was the sense of past traumas impacting on the present that struck me in this cat-and-mouse read."
People Pleaser (2026) Bryony Gordon "Written with her inimitable warmth and briskness, Gordon delivers a much welcome shot of therapy. People Pleaser offers some important truths: that trauma descends generations; that people pleasers unnecessarily take on other's shit; and that by valuing ourselves, and modelling self-belief, we help our children."
Unreliable Narrator (2026) Araminta Hall "What a dark, immersive feminist thriller. Hall writes so powerfully about monstrous men, and the privilege that allows them to exist; about the women they break so carelessly; and about a glittering setting that turns out to be as toxic as it is intoxicating. But - as her name suggests - there is always Hope, and I was cheering her protagonist on as she became increasingly intent on reclaiming her narrative and wreaking justifiable revenge. Clever, sharp, and simmers with a perfectly contained rage."
The Cut Throat Trial (2025) S J Fleet "Not so much a front row seat in a murder trial as a journey inside the minds of the necessarily unreliable defendants, judge and counsel, The Cut Throat Trial is both scathing examination of the criminal justice system and an astute, empathetic, and satisfyingly twisty read. . . I'll be thinking about this one for quite some time."
The New Wife (2023) J P Delaney "A characteristically unsettling thriller with an unreliable narrator who reels you in and a twist that made me pivot. With its sultry Mallorcan setting and du Maurier allusions, this is a summer read which exudes menace and is crying out for a TV adaptation."
Idol (2022) Louise O'Neill "Sharp and sharply plotted, muscular, propulsive, visceral. So good on illusion and self-delusion; the lies we tell ourselves and each other; the damage of toxic friendships, and the legacy of betrayal or imagined betrayal. There were phrases that stopped me in my tracks, they resonated so hard. I hope it flies far higher than Samantha Miller."
The Push (2021) Ashley Audrain "Stayed up too late finishing [Audrain's] deeply unsettling The Push about the darkest reaches of motherhood . . . Visceral, provocative, compulsive, and with the most graphic and relatable description of childbirth I've read (or written)."
The Lying Room (2019) Nicci French "You know a book's gripping when you sneak away at any opportunity to read it. Meticulously plotted, psychologically astute."
Whisper Network (2019) Chandler Baker "Slick, smart, fierce, it's Big Little Lies set against attorneys and recast in the light of #metoo. Relevant, resonant and rage inducing."
Our House (2018) Louise Candlish "I raced through it this weekend. Such a smart idea. Twisty, warped, credible. Brilliantly plotted and compelling. Deserves to be such a hit."
