Bring the House Down - by Charlotte Runcie (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A theater critic at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe writes a vicious one-star review of a struggling actress he has a one-night stand with in this sharply funny, feminist tinderbox.

"Excellent...brilliant...a fiery reminder that we still have so far to go when it comes to men behaving poorly and getting away with it."--LitHub

"A binge-worthy novel that explores our obsessions, our inner critic, and who we think we are in person and in print. Intimate, real, and really funny. This one has teeth." --Kiley Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Come and Get It and Such a Fun Age

One of Glamour's Best Books for Book Clubs

Alex Lyons always has his mind made up by the time the curtain comes down at a performance--the show either deserves a five-star rave or a one-star pan. Anything in between is meaningless. On the opening night of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he doesn't deliberate over the rating for Hayley Sinclair's show, nor does he hesitate when the opportunity presents itself to have a one-night stand with the struggling actress.

Unaware that she's gone home with the theater critic who's just written a career-ending review of her, Hayley wakes up at his apartment to see his scathing one-star critique in print on the kitchen table, and she's not sure which humiliation offends her the most. So she revamps her show into a viral sensation critiquing Alex Lyons himself--entitled son of a famous actress, serial philanderer, and by all accounts a terrible man. Yet Alex remains unapologetic. As his reputation goes up in flames, he insists on telling his unvarnished version of events to his colleague, Sophie. Through her eyes, we see that the deeper she gets pulled into his downfall, the more conflicted she becomes. After all, there are always two sides to every story.

A brilliant Trojan horse of a book about art, power, misogyny, and female rage, Bring the House Down is a searing, insightful, and often hilarious debut that captures the blurred line between reality and performance.

Review Quotes

"Runcie gets theater right in this excellent debut novel. . . It's a brilliant look at the utter madness that is the [Edinburgh Festival] Fringe, a deep consideration of criticism and art (and parenthood as a professional), and a fiery reminder that we still have so far to go when it comes to men behaving poorly and getting away with it."
--LitHub

"An unusual, thought-provoking, multilayered read that book groups will enjoy debating. A smart novel that carefully considers the shifting sands of life."
--Kirkus (starred review)

"A sharp, absorbing, thoroughly entertaining send-up of gender politics, the dynamic between critics and artists, and the struggle for women to balance careers and motherhood."
--Booklist (starred review)

"An ebullient piece of retribution for an unrepentant jerk [and] a nuanced and thoughtful take on gender and power."
--Bloomberg Businessweek, 10 Best Books of the Summer

"[A clever] debut. . . Runcie takes a thought-provoking look at art's complex relationship with criticism and public outrage. This dramedy packs a punch."
--Publisher's Weekly

"Runcie's story is one we can all relate to--whether we're aspiring stage actors or not. . . By all accounts juicy and so real, I read this book in a single weekend."
--Glamour

"Bring the House Down is sharp-witted, wise, and authentic--what a fierce, fantastically funny read."
--Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had and Same As It Ever Was

"An astounding debut about the fraught relationship between artist and critic, truth and publicity, men and women. Bring the House Down reminds us how unwise it is to make easy judgments about people or art--which does not stop me from giving Charlotte Runcie five big stars."
--Nathan Hill, New York Times bestselling author of Wellness and The Nix

"An enticing debut. This is a binge-worthy novel that explores our obsessions, our inner critic, and who we think we are in person and in print. Intimate, real, and really funny. This one has teeth."
--Kiley Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Come and Get It and Such a Fun Age

"I read this in a day and wished there were another hundred pages so I could just keep reading. Funny, precise, and such fun. And now that I've finished it the characters are lodged in my brain like they're real people I used to know."
--Holly Gramazio, New York Times bestselling author of The Husbands

"Funny, bold and tender, Bring the House Down is a biting study of power, gender and the meaning of art. I loved this incendiary debut."
--Emilia Hart, New York Times bestselling author of author of Weyward and The Sirens

"A daring dive into the excesses of our rating culture, Bring The House Down searches for the nuance and complexity we lose when we reduce our experiences to one-star/five-star, best/worst, or love/hate binaries. Runcie's propulsive and tender prose interrogates the critic's role and allegiances in a world where art has become a product like any other. A fascinating read."
--Camille Bordas, author of The Material and How to Behave in a Crowd

"Bring the House Down is a bitingly sharp, witty, and multi-layered exploration of rage and art. Runcie is so good on nuance, on interrogating the good and bad of meticulously-drawn characters we come to love even when we feel we shouldn't - all the while delving into questions of complicity, goodness, and how our own desires muddy the water."
--Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure and Cursed Bread

"A novel about losing and finding yourself again, about who we are versus who we think we are, and about the inner lives we rarely reveal. Runcie's characters feel so real I wouldn't be surprised to find myself next to them on the train or to overhear them on the streets of Edinburgh."
--Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of The Sleep Watcher, Starling Days and Harmless Like You

"I devoured Bring the House Down--and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. Charlotte Runcie combines her searing observation and immaculate pacing with infectious prose in this compelling, comedic and seriously clever debut novel. I can't wait for everyone else to read it so I can finally talk about it at length."
--Alice Vincent, author of Why Women Grow

"Bring the House Down is an agile, addictive story exploring art, ethics, the role of the critic, vindication of female rage, and the public appetite for blood. Runcie is sharply attuned to the vast uncomfortable grey areas of gender and power relations, navigating them with wry, revelatory observations that are devastatingly acute. Atmospheric, propulsive, electric."
--Heidi Sopinka, author of Utopia

About the Author

CHARLOTTE RUNCIE was most recently The Daily Telegraph's radio critic and senior arts columnist. She has also written for magazines and newspapers including The Times and The Guardian, spending years in the culture trenches reviewing shows at the Edinburgh Festival. A graduate of Cambridge University, Charlotte was longlisted for the 2023 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and the Bridport Prize, and was a Foyle Young Poet of the Year.