POSITION OF PEGGY HARPER

This long-neglected Edwardian classic, set in the shabby world of England's theatricals, populated by hack writers, drunken actors, pushy stage mothers and unscrupulous directors, is a tale full of drama, greed, ambition and love and one man's quest as an actor for a secure wage and fame. Christopher Tatham is trying to 'make it' in acting, surviving on third-rate bit parts and the charity of his uncle, continuing to hope for the elusive leading-man role. A chance encounter with the enchanting Peggy Harper seems to herald a change of fortune. But Tatham is soon forced to give up his flagging career for a dispiriting position as a clerk in the City as he wanders nostalgically through the West End in his lunchbreak, still filled with longing for a life denied him. In a London daubed with greasepaint and filled with hungry actors, will Peggy and Tatham manage to carve out a life for themselves and attain the success and stability they crave? Toasting engagements with ginger beer, living hand to mouth, Merrick's seedy world makes for grim reading and when Peggy turns out to a fame-hungry, vain and vacant as she first appears, Christopher's lot looks unlikely to improve. In an age in which fame and celebrity are widely courted and craved, this book is still an intriguing and potentially cautionary tale. 164 page paperback.