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BOOKS: Nora Murphy on debut novel The Favour

Nora Murphy, author of The Favour.
Nora Murphy, author of The Favour.

Nora Murphy’s debut, The Favour looks at life behind the perfect picket fence. The lawyer was inspired by her research into domestic abuse in professional households to pen a thriller about the two women trapped in a living hell of their husbands’ making.

32-year-old Nora lives with her husband, children and small menagerie of three dogs and two cats in Maryland, USA. Apart from boasting a successful legal career and raising a family, the author also manages to find time to dedicate to her love of writing. A voracious reader and keen writer, Nora says; “I started trying to write a novel about five years ago, and ultimately, my eighth attempt, in 2020, became The Favour.”

Nora Murphy’s debut novel: The Favour.

Like many authors, her love of books stems from childhood memories of sharing stories with her family, “of visiting my local library and leaving with stacks of books, and writing my own stories by hand in notebooks. I think that reading is the single most important thing you can do to improve as a writer. I try to read and write every single day.”

In her legal career the focus is currently on franchise law but she says, “My writing has been inspired by work that I did in law school and earlier in my career.

“The Favour was inspired by a research paper I wrote in law school in which I explored professional abusers, meaning abusers with high-profile or high-powered careers, people who are successful, pillars of the community, and the unique challenges that their victims may face. My goal was to show, through a novel that was thrilling and empowering, that surviving abuse at the hands of such abusers is far from as simple as walking out the door.”

Legal foundations

Her work in franchise law is very different from the plot she has woven for her novel but she says that, “it’s nice to have that separation and balance.”

The Favour features two women, Leah and McKenna who, despite living in the same upmarket neighbourhood, with lives that appear perfect to the outsider looking in, have never met. When they do cross paths they see something of themselves in the other – that they are bright, attractive and successful women whose husbands are making their lives hell.

The wealthy backdrop was an important foundation of the story for Nora: “I think that some people might assume that abuse does not happen in affluent households with people who are highly educated and professional,” she explains. “I wanted to show that it can happen, it does happen, and it can be particularly shameful, dangerous, and difficult to prove.

Success masks the truth

“I do think that location can be very important, and I wanted to set The Favour in an upscale neighbourhood that would be easily recognizable to many people. I wanted the reader feel like the story could have taken place in their own neighbourhood, that the characters could be their own neighbours.”

As the plot in The Favour twists and turns, Nora examines how these women can fight back against their abusers and how their situation means that this will never be straightforward. She says that it can be more difficult for women in perceived privileged positions to reach out for support: “Particularly if the abuser is a pillar of the community—someone who has credibility due to his career, education, or affluence.

“Survivors of such abusers often face immense shame and while it seems like they have access to resources, they have been financially and emotionally isolated.”

In her own reading Nora Murphy’s favourite authors are Patricia Highsmith, Laura Lippman, and fellow legal expert Alafair Burke. “When I am writing, if I feel stuck, I often turn to re-reading some of my favourite books and authors. I find that can dislodge writer’s block,” she says.

The Favour by Nora Murphy is out now in hardback, £14.99, Macmillan

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