I'm now on day 13 of self-isolation in this pandemic (although writing this on 28th March and I'm not sure when I'll be posting) and good lord has the boredom hit. I'm so SO behind on these reviews, and despite my best efforts to blast through as many as possible so far this year, I'm not *actually* sure if I've made any headway on catching up as I've had extra time to do more reading. Anyway, let's hope that during this lockdown I finally manage to get somewhere with catching up - maybe even onto my 2020 reads? Who knows.
Sophie and James have everything going well for them on the surface: a nice home, beautiful kid, and James has a great job in politics. That is, until he's accused on sexual assault. Sophie knows her husband would never do something like that, and is determined to stand by him throughout his upcoming trial. Kate, the prosecution lawyer for the case on the other hand, is utterly convinced he did it. Set against the backdrop of James and Sophie's privileged time at Oxford, the book is told part by Sophie and part by Kate. Perhaps the two women aren't so different after all.
This book comes with a massive trigger warning for sexual assault and rape. In covering the court case, the book goes over the incident time and time again from different angles using different evidence, as they would in a real court case. It was likely a very accurate insight into what this kind of trial is like, and the repetitive and exhaustive nature of the questioning of the woman really came through.
Interestingly, the book comes with a disclaimer from the author that James and his Etonian/Oxford cronies are not supposed to be a reflection of any particular UK top level politicians. However, we all know that a large amount of the ones we have and have had in government in recent years have belonged to the same elite clubs as these characters did at university, and bear the same level of privilege.
I've given this four stars - it was an interesting read and I enjoyed it, but it felt like the plot fell a little flat at points for me.
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