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