A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor is New York Times bestselling author Darcey Bell’s debut novel. Published in 2017 by Harper, the novel was praised for its chilling portrayals of its characters and shocking plot twists, and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Bell followed this novel in 2020 with Something She’s Not Telling Us, cementing her reputation for domestic noir psychological thrillers. In 2018, A Simple Favor was adapted into a movie starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, directed by Paul Feig.

This study guide uses the e-book edition of the novel, published in 2017 by Harper.

Content Warning: The source material contains depictions of death by suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual and physical abuse, incest, and murder.

Plot Summary

Stephanie Ward is the author of a popular motherhood blog and shares with her readers some terrible news: her best friend, Emily Nelson, has disappeared. She and Emily became friends through their young sons, Miles and Nicky. Emily asked Stephanie to watch Nicky one day and never returned. In her absence, Stephanie turns to Emily’s husband, Sean, for insight. They grow close while helping Nicky deal with his mother’s disappearance, and Stephanie develops an attraction to Sean that she feels is inappropriate to act on.

However, this isn’t the first time Stephanie has acted on an inappropriate attraction—in fact, it is the very thing that makes it more tempting for her. When she was younger, after her father died, Stephanie discovered that he had another family, and she had a half-brother, Chris. Stephanie and Chris begin a sexual relationship that lasts for years, even during her marriage to Davis and the birth of Miles. At some point, Davis became aware of the relationship, and when he and Chris are running an errand together, he deliberately crashes into a tree, killing them both. After their deaths, Stephanie stays away from inappropriate relationships, at least until Emily disappears and Stephanie becomes close with Sean.

When the police find a body wearing Emily’s distinctive sapphire ring in the water near Emily’s family cabin, it seems clear to Stephanie that Emily has suffered a tragic accident. The police suspect Sean, who is the beneficiary of Emily’s $2 million insurance policy, but Stephanie doesn’t believe he is guilty. Her relationship with Sean progresses. Eventually she moves into his house, and they, along with their sons, develop a new family routine.

One day, Nicky, who is still struggling with his mother’s disappearance, tells Stephanie that he saw Emily after school that day. Although Stephanie thinks that it is just wishful thinking on Nicky’s part, Miles says he has seen Emily as well. Emily is alive and angry that Stephanie has stepped into her life. She and Sean had developed a plan to fake her death and claim the insurance money, but with the discovery of the body with the ring, he now believes she is dead even though she told him not to believe her death was real.

When Emily calls her, Stephanie is shocked to find that her friend is alive. She uses her blog to communicate with Emily, and a game of cat and mouse begins. Stephanie visits Emily’s mother, who reveals that Emily has a twin, Eve, that no one, not even Sean, knows about. She realizes that the body found in the lake might be Eve. Emily, after giving her the sapphire ring, coerced Eve, who had a substance use disorder, into dying by suicide.

Emily meets with Sean, who is shocked to discover she is still alive. He is immediately attracted to her again, but she is angry about his betrayal and the death of her sister. Soon after, an investigator for the insurance company shows up at Sean’s door. He has discovered that Emily had a twin and believes that the body found was Eve’s. After his visit, Stephanie and Sean lose trust in one another and grow apart, until one day Emily calls Stephanie, asking for her help.

Stephanie meets Emily, who tells her that Sean had abused her and that she had faked her death to escape him. Stephanie agrees to help her, and Emily confesses that she killed the insurance investigator because she was afraid he wouldn’t believe her. Stephanie helps her dispose of the body, and they return home to confront Sean. Stephanie allies herself with Emily, who threatens to tell the police that the scam was Sean’s idea if he doesn’t give her full custody of Nicky.

The next day, Sean leaves for Ireland for work, and Emily knows she has won. Her relationship with Stephanie becomes more casual, and they see less and less of each other. When the police come to her door with the news that they’ve found the insurance investigator’s body, she casts suspicion on Stephanie and Sean. After they leave, she begins packing bags for herself and Nicky, not to run, but to get away until the investigation is complete.