BOOK OF THE YEAR – EVENING STANDARD, THE OBSERVER and THE TIMES

‘Beautifully written and completely convincing’ The Observer

TO LOVE IS TO FALL . . .

On a rooftop in Elizabethan London two worlds collide. Shay is a messenger-girl and trainer of hawks who sees the future in the patterns of birds. Nonesuch is the dark star of the city’s fabled child theatre scene, as famous as royalty yet lowly as a beggar.

Together they create The Ghost Theatre- a troupe staging magical plays in London’s hidden corners. As their hallucinatory performances incite rebellion among the city’s outcasts, the pair’s relationship sparks and burns against a backdrop of the plague and a London in flames. Their growing fame sweeps them up into the black web of the Elizabethan court, where Shay and Nonesuch discover that if they fly too high, a fall is sure to come –
Fantastical and captivating, The Ghost Theatre charts the rise and dramatic destruction of a dream born from love and torn apart by betrayal.


‘Dramatic and gripping… a breathless journey of hope, beauty, wonder, tragedy, and the power of theatre’ Isabelle Schuler

‘Utterly transporting’ Catriona Ward

‘Vivid, heady and brilliantly staged‘ Stuart Evers

‘Rich and evocative with shades of Angela Carter’ Ever Dundas

‘A story of rebellion and magic, of mysticism and broken love in the streets and theatres and rooftops of Elizabethan London. Beautifully written, delicate and sad. I’m still haunted by it’ Mariana Enriquez

‘Osman brings the underworld of Elizabethan London to life with its child theatres, rioting apprentices and anarchic world, its jumble of squalor and glamour… larger-than-life heroes raise child rebellions; pursue exalted, treacherous love affairs; see the future in a flock of birds. Glorious!’ Sandra Newman

Mat Osman is the bassist and founder member of iconic British rock band Suede and a composer of music for TV and films. He also worked as a culture journalist during the noughties, writing about art and travel for papers, magazines and online.