The Ghost Theatre

Mat Osman's second novel sets the bar for 2023 very high.I enjoyed his debut a great deal, but it was a rock star writing about a rock star. Here he gives his imagination free reign (although if I was being reeeeaaaallly pedantic, I'd note that he's still concerned with entertainers and performances), moving us four hundred years back in time ands vividly evoking an Elizabeth England that is stuffed with cruel predators and misery but also with mystery and wonder. It's not a full-blown alternate history fantasy novel by any stretch, but there's enough delicious occult strangeness here to give it a twist of the weird that most historical novels lack. It's rich, hallucinatory and engrossing, and I loved it.