Anatomy of a Scandal: a Richard and Judy pick of the decade - and filming begins.

Sometimes good things come all at once. So it is with huge delight that I can announce that Richard and Judy have chosen Anatomy of a Scandal as one of their 12 best books in a decade of running their book club. (US readers: think of Oprah or Reese.)

Being picked for the book club two years ago was a massive highpoint of my writing career, and though I think Richard is being overgenerous in proclaiming the 12 books they’ve chosen out of 240 as “the best books written in the US and UK in the last decade” it is lovely to know that they still hold it in such high esteem. I’m thrilled that Anatomy’s been given a new cover and that the essay I wrote on its inspiration - including a reference to our now prime minister - and the questions they posed me are still in the back of it. Even better, I’ll be recording a podcast with Lisa Jewell, whose The Family Upstairs has also been chosen, and a celebrity next week. I’ve already played the podcast with Clare Mackintosh and Alex Michaelides, whose I Let You Go and The Silent Patient have been picked, and found it so inspiring. You can listen to the podcast here, and subscribe to it here. David Nicholls and Jessie Burton will be recording ahead of us and I can guarantee they will be fascinating.

You can buy this special edition, and any of the other dozen bestsellers they’ve picked on a buy one get one half price basis, here.

Meanwhile, in the US the e-book of Anatomy of a Scandal is $1.99 for a very short while, and you can buy it here. E-books are rarely priced this low in the US so it’s a good chance to snap it up before it hits our screens….

Because have you noticed that perfect little Netflix burst? It’s the first time we’ve used it on any edition and it really is happening! Filming started just over a week ago and, finger’s tightly crossed because filming in a pandemic is logistically complex, it’s full steam ahead…

I haven’t been on set yet - there are tough covid protocols and I’ve been finishing my fifth novel - so I’ve been devouring these pictures of Rupert Friend and Sienna Miller filming it, somewhat ironically printed by the tabloid that features at the start of the novel, the Daily Mail. The ones of them filming outside the Old Bailey, surrounded by paparazzi, feel utterly surreal since I started researching the novel by watching a sexual offences trial in court 5 in January 2016.

At around that time I would have just finished watching Rupert Friend in Homeland (season five, the Berlin series, would just have completed with the most amazing, and terrifying, narrative arc for Quinn). Now he’s been transformed into my charismatic government minister, James. I’m in awe of what the costume designer, and hair and make-up, have achieved. Would love to know what you think?