Join us on a literary world trip!

Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!

I want to read the book!

All characters reduced

Backstairs Billy - cover

Backstairs Billy

Marcelo Dos Santos

Publisher: Nick Hern Books

0
0
0

Summary

'One can't help where one is born. Or one's station, of course. The trick to happiness is to be content where one is. Or so I am told.'
1979. Clarence House, London. The Queen Mother's receptions are in full swing and the champagne is flowing. Guiding the proceedings is William 'Billy' Tallon, page of the backstairs, keeper of the keys, holder of the royal corgis – and the royal secrets.
Outside the palace walls, unemployment, inflation and industrial action are bringing Britain to its knees, and the country is on the verge of changing seismically under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. These two worlds are about to collide, with dizzying consequences for everyone...
Backstairs Billy examines the fifty-year relationship between the Queen Mother and her most loyal, most outrageous servant, who joined her household at the age of fifteen. Marcelo Dos Santos's irreverent comedy was first produced by the Michael Grandage Company at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in 2023, directed by Grandage and starring Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans.
Marcelo Dos Santos was named Most Promising Playwright at the 2024 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for Backstairs Billy (he was the joint winner of the award with Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini).

Available since: 11/16/2023.

Print length: 112 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Criminal Intentions: Season Two Episode Nine - Occam's Razor - cover

Criminal Intentions: Season Two...

Cole McCade

0
0
0

ABOUT THIS EPISODE 
 
 
 
It's said the simplest solution is usually the right one—but there's nothing simple about the complications that arise when their primary suspect for the white rabbit killer shows up on Malcolm and Seong-Jae's doorstep, dead and mutilated beyond recognition. All it takes is one body to make their entire case timeline fall apart. 
 
 
 
Unless it's not the body of their suspect at all. 
 
 
 
With a suspiciously cooperative Aanga Joshi on board, Malcolm and Seong-Jae take a trip into the white rabbit's past in the hopes of predicting his future. Nothing can divert them from their course—not decoys, not lies, not even the discovery of motives driving the killer's choice of victim. 
 
 
 
Until one fateful phone call. 
 
 
 
And a connection that could spell the end for the people they love. 
 
 
 
Contains mature themes.

Inexplicably Me - A Story of Labels Worthiness and Refusing to Be Boxed In - cover

Inexplicably Me - A Story of...

Chelsea Austin Montgomery-Duban...

0
0
0

As the daughter of two gay fathers in the '90s, Chelsea has always had a different outlook than some people. And yet, her message is one of universal importance—love is the most important force in the world. Through her moving and at times hilarious memoir, Chelsea reflects on how we are all much more similar than we are different. 
 
 
 
Living "two doors down from normal," Chelsea quickly learned that society loves to put people in boxes, but these boxes do not always reflect how we feel about ourselves. Through Inexplicably Me, Chelsea works to bring people together in love and acceptance and to illustrate that, while her story may seem worlds away from others, we all strive for happiness and love. 
 
 
 
From sharing the stage with President Obama when she was only eighteen years old, to her father spending her senior year of college in federal prison camp, to her biological mother dying of cancer when she was only fifty-six, Chelsea explores her painful and joyful experiences with the hope that listeners will find inspiration to face their own challenges and embrace their own joys.

The Hater Playbook - cover

The Hater Playbook

Baylin Crow

0
0
0

My brother's best friend is the biggest player on campus—both on the basketball court and between the sheets. 
 
 
 
Not that I can blame the swarm of girls that worship Knight Jackson's size fourteen sneaker-covered feet. I've been in love with him for as long as I can remember. He's been breaking my heart for just as long. 
 
 
 
While I'd been busy memorizing every detail about him, he'd never seen me as anything other than Pace's younger brother. It wasn't smart to crush on a straight guy in the first place, so now that I'm in college, I'm ready to move on. The problem is I'm clueless when it comes to dating. 
 
 
 
A brilliant idea occurs to me when I've had one too many shots of tequila. I may not know what I'm doing, but Knight does. And he owes me for the years I spent pining for him, right? Right. 
 
 
 
So I text the heartbreaker, asking for help. I never expected him to agree. 
 
 
 
And I definitely never expected him to offer to give me lessons on how to drive a guy crazy in bed. 
 
 
 
Contains mature themes.

Spirited Situation - cover

Spirited Situation

Louisa Masters

0
0
0

When you can talk to ghosts, things are bound to get spirited. 
The ghosts have been there since before I can remember. When I was a kid, they doted on me, but as I got older, they got more demanding. I’ve spent my whole life seeing and talking to dead people and trying to pretend I’m not, because the living just don’t understand. Nobody wants to be around the freak who claims to see ghosts. 
Until I go to Mannix Estate. 
Once a private country home, then a posh hotel, it was closed after a suspicious incident but is now an immersive historic experience. It’s also haunted AF, and everyone knows it. Finally, I’ve found a place to work and live where I can be useful. Where I’m actually wanted. 
There are only two problems: I spent a hot, sweaty, satisfying night with Ewan the blacksmith before I knew we’d have to work together. Everyone knows sex with colleagues is a bad idea, right? Even if he’s the world’s most ripped cinnamon roll. 
Plus, the ghosts are keeping secrets. There’s something going on that’s not normal, even for a haunted estate. And I suspect that when the truth comes out, I’m the one who’ll have to deal with it… and it won’t be good.

Her Boss - cover

Her Boss

Emily Hayes

0
0
0

Relationships are forbidden between hospital employees, particularly when one is the boss . . .  
 
 
 
This is an age gap, boss/employee workplace medical romance. Hot and steamy, sweet and loving, and always a happy ever after. This is a standalone romance set in the world of Forest Vale Hospital. 
 
 
 
Diane Margot is the director of the Women's Sexual Health Clinic at Forest Vale Hospital. The hospital bureaucracy has taken her further and further from her original passion for the work. 
 
 
 
When a new, much younger, and passionate employee joins her team and they begin a new project together, Diane can't help but feel revitalized, and seriously distracted. 
 
 
 
Can Diane find a way to keep things professional between them? Or will lines get crossed and hospital rules get broken? 
 
 
 
Contains mature themes.

A Veil of Gods and Kings - cover

A Veil of Gods and Kings

Nicole Bailey

0
0
0

A god fighting his fate. A prince burdened with secrets. And a romance that could end in flames. 
Apollo is a deity… almost. Half mortal and refusing to take his position as god of the sun, he spends his nights drowning out haunting memories and his days avoiding responsibilities. 
Until his father forces him into an ultimatum: 
Ascend immediately. 
Or spend the year mentoring under the obnoxious Prince Hyacinth. 
Forced together, Apollo and Hyacinth grapple with their mutual disdain for each other. 
But what starts as a kindling of irritation begins to burn into something new. A spark that, if it turns to flame, could incinerate everything they’ve always protected. 
A reimagining of the Greek myth of Apollo and Prince Hyacinth, this NA, enemies-to-lovers fantasy series is a whirlwind journey full of romance, intrigue, and enthralling characters.