The Ghost Theatre, Mat Osman
The Ghost Theatre, Mat Osman
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The Ghost Theatre
A Novel

Author: Mat Osman

Narrator: Ellie Kendrick

Unabridged: 13 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/28/2024

Synopsis

London, 1601—a golden city soon to erupt in flames. Shay is a messenger-girl, falconer, and fortune teller who sees the future in the patterns of birds. Nonesuch is the dark star of the city's fabled Blackfriars Theatre, where a cast of press-ganged boys perform for London's gentry. When the pair meet, Shay falls in love with the performances—and with Nonesuch himself. As their bond deepens, they create the Ghost Theatre, an underground troupe that performs fantastical plays in the city's hidden corners. As their fame grows the troupe fans the flames of rebellion among the city's outcasts, and the lovers are drawn into the dark web of the Elizabethan court. Embattled, with the plague on the rise throughout the country, the Queen seeks a reading from Shay, a moment which unleashes chaos not only in Shay's life, but across the whole of England too.

A fever-dream full of prophecy and anarchy, gutter rats and bird gods, Mat Osman's The Ghost Theatre is a wild ride from the rooftops of Elizabethan London to its dark underbelly, and a luminous meditation on double lives and fluid identities and the bewitching, transformative nature of art and power, with a bittersweet love affair at its heart. Set amid the vividly rendered England of Osman's imagination and written in rich, seductive prose, The Ghost Theatre will have listeners under its spell.

About Mat Osman

Mat Osman is a musician, songwriter, bassist, and founding member of the British band Suede, as well as a composer for film and television. His writing about art and travel has appeared in the Guardian, Independent, and Observer and more. He is the author of the novel The Ruins and he lives in the UK.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Crystal on May 28, 2023

Mat Osman's The Ghost Theatre is a tour de force of imaginative storytelling, an exhilarating dive into an Elizabethan London seen through a kaleidoscope of magic, rebellion, and love. The book kept me riveted from the first page to the last, leaving me yearning for more of this bewitching and vivid......more

Goodreads review by Jess on August 19, 2023

Two teenagers meet on a rooftop in Elizabethan London. The one comes from a bird worshipping community and the other is owned by theatre. They are drawn to one another and can't help but fall in love. Together with their friends they put on their productions, get the attention of the Queen herself a......more

Goodreads review by Allison on February 01, 2023

Smart, bold, and original, THE GHOST THEATRE brings to life a slantwise Elizabethan London where appearance is everything and nothing you see can be trusted. Every page is alive with the heady, dangerous energy of an opening night, and Shay and Nonesuch are unforgettable. For readers who like their......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on February 26, 2025

✨️A real nitty gritty historical take on Elizabethan London. We follow the trials and tribulations of Shay and her beloved falcon as they traverse the streets of 16th century London in an attempt to create theatrical displays mixed in with her ability to communicate and read the future with the help......more

Goodreads review by Veerle on June 16, 2023

Usually if I run to the bookstore like a madwoman to get a book I desperately want on publication day, my anticipation level is inversely proportional to my level of enjoyment on reading it. Not so this time. I just savoured this one like a slice of gooey Ottolenghi chocolate cake. Shay is a rebellio......more

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