The recap
Richard Troy is a gifted stage actor with a disastrous reputation. Once a golden boy, he is now better known for his temper than his talent, and his bad behaviour has become a problem for everyone who works with him. Elaine Graham, known to everyone as Lainie, is his co-star in a West End production: warm, well liked and thoroughly fed up with him. When the people around Richard decide that his public image needs urgent repair, they settle on a solution straight from the publicist's handbook. He will be seen stepping out with his lovely, popular castmate, and Lainie will play the part of his girlfriend. What follows is a fake romance conducted in front of photographers and gossip columns, with the pair sniping at each other between performances. Lucy Parker makes the backstage world of London theatre vivid and funny and gives her leads dialogue that snaps. Beneath the comedy lies a thoughtful story about the distance between a public persona and a private self, and about how hard it is to stop performing.
Why read it
For theatre lovers and fans of grumpy-meets-sunshine pairings, and for anyone who likes a fake relationship that generates very real sparks.
Fun facts
- 01
It was Lucy Parker's debut romance; Parker is a New Zealander who chose London's West End as her setting.
- 02
It launched the London Celebrities series, which continues with Pretty Face, Making Up, The Austen Playbook and Headliners.
- 03
Carina Press published it in 2015, and a mass-market paperback followed in 2016.
- 04
The audiobook edition is narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown.
