The Ruins

The Ruins

Mat Osman

Mat Osman

An extraordinary novel about the ubiquitous mysteries of family, memory and music.London, 2010: Icelandic volcanoes have the city in gridlock, banks topple like dominoes and Brandon Kussgarten has been shot dead by gunmen in Donald Duck masks. His death draws his twin brother — shy, bookish Adam — into Brandon's underworld of deceit and desire.A miniature kingdom sprouts in a Notting Hill tower-block, LA mansions burn in week-long parties, and in a Baroque hotel suite a record is being made that could redeem its maker even as it destroys him. As Adam begins to fall for his brother's shattered family he finds that to win them for himself he'll have to lose everything that he holds dear.This intelligent, intriguing and emotionally-searing tale of fractured identities, narcissism and ambition questions how being loved for what others think we are differs from who we are to ourselves.With echoes of Performance, The Talented Mr Ripley and Mulholland...
Read online
  • 298
The Ghost Theatre

The Ghost Theatre

Mat Osman

Mat Osman

BOOK OF THE YEAR - EVENING STANDARD, THE OBSERVER and THE TIMES 'Beautifully written and completely convincing' The Observer'An excellent novel – riotous and abundant, full of vivid, dirty life' The Guardian 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...
Read online
  • 209
183