The Ghost Theatre

THE GHOST THEATRE is a dazzling punk re-imagining of Elizabethan London through the eyes of a clairvoyant, bird-worshiping protagonist and her unlikely theatre troupe. It is gripping and magic, deftly crafted and filmic in its descriptions. The UK and Commonwealth rights were snapped up by Bloomsbury in a 48-hour pre-empt, and will be published in 2023. US Rights are with Overlook. You can read the bookseller announcement here.

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.

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. Mat is represented by Victoria Hobbs at AM Heath.