Book Review: The Favor by Nora Murphy

My Rating:
3.5⭐

“We were guilty. But we were also victims. We were survivors.”

Two highly educated and professionally accomplished women – Leah and McKenna – married to equally educated and accomplished men , no financial worries and homeowners in respectable neighborhoods- what more could a woman want? But the truth behind their picture-perfect lives is not what any woman would dream her life to be.

On her routine liquor run, Leah notices McKenna and sees through her polished exterior or rather sees herself reflected in McKenna’s demeanor. On an impulse, Leah follows McKenna home – and as she repeats her trips to McKenna's neighborhood, her suspicions are confirmed. McKenna is in an abusive marriage similar to her own. Leah, unable to help herself, feels compelled to help McKenna – as a favor. What follows is a sequence of events that changes their lives irrevocably. The larger part of the narrative is shared by Leah and McKenna with a few segments narrated by a third character who is introduced later in the story. The narrative switches between the past and present detailing the lives of both Leah and McKenna- their courtship and subsequent marriage with their respective spouses and the present state of their lives , their professional accomplishments and the circumstances under which they are forced to quit their respective jobs and how despite not ever knowing each other in the past and hardly ever interacting with one another in the present, they become involved in each other's lives.

Fast-paced, with an engaging narrative and well – fleshed out characters, Nora Murphy’s The Favor is an impressive debut! However, you need to suspend disbelief quite a bit to fully enjoy the story. If you don’t overthink it, the plot will definitely pull you in from the very first page!

The author, who is a practicing attorney, uses her professional experience in dealing with survivors of intimate partner violence in her insightful and vivid depiction of the various manifestations of abuse – humiliation, manipulation, coercion, and ultimately physical assault. In her note at the end of the book, she makes a valid point that domestic violence and spousal abuse are not limited to families lacking in education or financial stability and are not uncommon among couples from more educated or affluent backgrounds. That is an important message. In her note, the author states, ”Intimate partner violence can debilitate us. Our friends. Our sisters. Our mothers. Our daughters. Our neighbors. Or, a stranger, just as Leah was to Mckenna, and McKenna to Leah. We must understand them. We must support each other. We must support ourselves.”

I switched between the e-book and the audio narration with this one. Dylan Moore, Leon Nixon and Sarah Mollo-Christensen brilliantly brought these characters to life through their superb narration.