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‘An engrossing, enthralling and utterly captivating read, The Young Pretender tells a simply remarkable story with bounce, energy, wit, and lively authenticity . . . Michael Arditti’s brilliant imaginative achievement offers high comedy, dark tragedy and everything between’ STEPHEN FRY
Mobbed by the masses, lionised by the aristocracy, courted by royalty and lusted after by patrons of both sexes, the child actor William Henry West Betty was one of the most famous people in Georgian Britain.
At the age of thirteen, he played leading roles, including Romeo, Macbeth and Richard III, in theatres across the country. Prime Minister William Pitt adjourned the House of Commons so that its members could attend his debut as Hamlet at Covent Garden. Then, as rivals turned on him and scandal engulfed him, he suffered a fall as merciless as his rise had been meteoric.
The Young Pretender takes place during Betty’s attempted comeback at the age of twenty-one. As he seeks to relaunch his career, he is forced to confront the painful truths behind his boyhood triumphs. Michael Arditti’s revelatory new novel puts this long forgotten figure back in the limelight. In addition to its rich and poignant portrait of Betty himself, it offers an engrossing insight into both the theatre and society of the age. The nature of celebrity, the power of publicity and the cult of youth are laid bare in a story that is more pertinent now than ever.
‘Michael Arditti is a writer who takes risks. His material is always compelling and provocative, his techniques sophisticated and oblique’ PATRICIA DUNCKER, Independent on Sunday
‘Arditti is a master storyteller’ PETER STANFORD, Observer
Mobbed by the masses, lionised by the aristocracy, courted by royalty and lusted after by patrons of both sexes, the child actor William Henry West Betty was one of the most famous people in Georgian Britain.
At the age of thirteen, he played leading roles, including Romeo, Macbeth and Richard III, in theatres across the country. Prime Minister William Pitt adjourned the House of Commons so that its members could attend his debut as Hamlet at Covent Garden. Then, as rivals turned on him and scandal engulfed him, he suffered a fall as merciless as his rise had been meteoric.
The Young Pretender takes place during Betty’s attempted comeback at the age of twenty-one. As he seeks to relaunch his career, he is forced to confront the painful truths behind his boyhood triumphs. Michael Arditti’s revelatory new novel puts this long forgotten figure back in the limelight. In addition to its rich and poignant portrait of Betty himself, it offers an engrossing insight into both the theatre and society of the age. The nature of celebrity, the power of publicity and the cult of youth are laid bare in a story that is more pertinent now than ever.
‘Michael Arditti is a writer who takes risks. His material is always compelling and provocative, his techniques sophisticated and oblique’ PATRICIA DUNCKER, Independent on Sunday
‘Arditti is a master storyteller’ PETER STANFORD, Observer
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Reviews
An engrossing, enthralling and utterly captivating read, The Young Pretender tells a simply remarkable story with bounce, energy, wit, and lively authenticity . . . Michael Arditti's brilliant imaginative achievement offers high comedy, dark tragedy and everything between
Arditti's voice as Betty is impeccable. He is touchy, sometimes myopic, sincere in his ambitions. His attempts to reclaim lost glory are run through with an affecting melancholy.
Entrancing and disturbing . . . A moving story and Michael Arditti tells it with understanding and engaging sympathy . . . A rich social picture
The Young Pretender is an absolute joy - charming and funny, with the lightest hint of melancholy, and a wonderfully imaginative recreation of the Georgian theatre scene
The Young Pretender is just wonderful: so delicate and precise about performance, pretence and youth, with such a feeling for Georgian London. It's so well-written, I found myself admiring it from end to end.
Michael Arditti tells a story of a Regency child star with great panache and compassion, bringing a forgotten celebrity back to life for the modern age. A compelling read I was sad to finish.
Persuasively told in the actor's voice, this short, compelling novel records the crumbling of Betty's dreams of renewed acclaim and his slow acknowledgment of uncomfortable truths about his childhood stardom.
The first-person narrative endears, as Arditti blends tragedy and comedy. There won't be a dry eye in the house.
A vivid, highly detailed portrait of life in rumbustious Regency London
One of the best novels about the theatre I have ever read. Arditti brilliantly captures the feverish adulation of Master Betty, the financial exploitation of his fame and the sexual curiosity his presence aroused. This is also a novel about the transience of celebrity, the capricious bustle of Georgian London and the politics of theatre. I would recommend the novel not just to theatre addicts but to anyone intrigued by the whirligig of time.