Sometimes the greatest spectacle hides the darkest secrets . . .
In an alternate London, the city’s Theatre District is a walled area south of the river where an immersive production – the Show – has been running for centuries, growing ever bigger, more sprawling and lavish. The Show is open to anyone who can afford a ticket but the District itself is a closed world; even the police have no jurisdiction within its walls.
Juliet’s mother died when she was a baby. Brought up by her emotionally distant father and even more distant stepmother, she has never felt wanted. It’s only when her father passes away that Juliet – now nineteen – learns her birth was registered in the District. Desperate to belong somewhere at last, she travels to London where she hopes to unearth the truth about her identity, her mother’s death and her father’s years of silence – and claim her birthright.
But in the District, there is only one central truth: the Show must go on. And in a world where illusions abound, and powerful men control the narrative, Juliet has no idea of just how far some will go to ensure certain stories are never told . . .
Anne is originally from the north-east, but somehow slid down the map and finished up in a small village near Bath, where she lives with her partner and three sons. She has an MA in English Language and Linguistics from Edinburgh University, and an MSt in Linguistics from Oxford University. During her postgraduate studies, she worked as an etymologist and proofreader for a dictionary, carrying out research at the Bodleian Library.
Armed with her linguistics-related degrees and work experience, Anne took the somewhat illogical next step and became a criminal lawyer. In 2011, after several years spent working in the London courts and police stations, Anne remembered that she’d actually planned to be a writer, and commenced work on her first novel. This was slightly unfortunate timing, given that she was right in the middle of relocating to Somerset with her family, who seemed to feel that a little less novel-writing and a little more packing might be warranted. They probably had a point.
Over the next couple of years Anne fitted writing work around her day job as a solicitor. Her writing has appeared in various newspapers, magazines and anthologies, and has won various awards.
In 2016, The Space Between the Stars was published by Pan Macmillan in the UK and Random House in the US. She wrote most of this novel while studying for a Creative Writing MA at Bath Spa University. Her second novel, The Theatre of Glass and Shadows, will be published in May 2024 by Bonnier.
Anne enjoys working with other writers, through editing, mentoring and teaching.
My thoughts: this was a dark, clever fairy tale set in a version of our world where the Theatre District is still on the south bank of the Thames – roughly Southwark, where once theatres, bear pits and other such entertainment once plied its trade.
The theatre is all encompassing, Shakespeare died a penniless nobody, rather than the Bard of Avon, the show must always go on and since a king once gave the District his approval, the police have no jurisdiction (a bit like the City of London having its own force, and the Met not having power in the square mile).
Everyone who goes there wants to be in the show or learn its secrets, of which there are many. When Juliet’s father dies and she finds some things among his effects that suggest her past, and her mother’s identity, lie in this mysterious place, she heads there, determined to get answers.
What she finds there is a world of smoke and mirrors, illusion and misdirection. Just as she thinks she understands everything, it all tilts and turns on her and she learns the dark secrets at the heart of the show, and her life.
Clever,beguiling and beautifully brought to life, this dark fable lifts the curtain on a world of artifice hiding death and chaos, a Director clinging onto power by any means and players who will stop at nothing to gain it.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour,but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 