Bring the House Down: A Novel

"Yes. I just picked up British writer Charlotte Runcie’s first novel Bring the House Down , which is now out on both sides of the Atlantic and has been attracting a lot of positive attention. It’s about a theatre critic at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival who sleeps with the performer of a one-woman show he has just scathingly reviewed in print. Her response is to rebrand the show ‘The Alex Lyons Experience,’ dredging up all his previous misdeeds and hosting his ex-girlfriends on stage for a retrospective review. It’s a funny, biting premise, and it draws from Runcie’s real life experience of being written into a comedian’s show after giving a two-star review. But it has added elements, especially in the uncomfortable sexual dynamics and rowdy female response to the revenge show in the context of #MeToo. The Washington Post said it was “serious and thought-provoking” while remaining “fun and frequently witty,” declaring it “a five-star triumph.” For fans of Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age and Coco Mellors’ Cleopatra and Frankenstein . It might also make an interesting subject for book club discussions. What books have you been looking forward to this season? Let us know your summer 2025 fiction highlights on social media."