A one woman show
A one night stand
A one star review
At the Edinburgh Fringe, vicious theatre critic Alex Lyons is dashing off his latest hatchet job.
When Alex meets the show’s performer, Hayley, in a bar afterwards, she has no idea who he is. It’s only after they’ve spent the night together that Alex’s well-meaning flatmate, Sophie, accidentally shows Hayley the one-star review.
Humiliated and furious, Hayley revamps her show into a one-star review of Alex’s entire life. Starring every bad thing he’s ever done to anyone. Sparing absolutely no details.
Hayley’s show is an instant hit, setting off a cultural earthquake. With Alex’s life in ruins, Sophie has a front-row seat to the carnage. Which is how she discovers that, sometimes, the audience is the most dangerous place to be.
Funny and thrilling, for readers of Cleopatra and Frankenstein or Fleishman is in Trouble, this is an extraordinary debut novel about bad art and good art and who gets to say what. About the one-star reviews we wish we could give out, and the personal criticism we would rather not face.
5 Jun 2025 | HB | 9780008688011 | £16.99
If you’re an independent bookseller in the UK or Ireland and you’d like an advance reading copy of Bring the House Down please send your request, along with your name and bookshop address, to the IndieThinking team on independentthinking@harpercollins.co.uk
