This review is spoiler free.
“Theatres have a certain kind of magic.”
Published: 2018, by Little Brown.
Pages: 356
Format: Hardback
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Contains: Death, Murder, Anger, Violence, Abuse, Assault, Torture, Blood/Gore, Kidnapping, Child Abuse
‘When The Curtain Falls’ tells the story of Olive Green and Oscar bright’s budding romance whilst in the centre of Oscar’s spotlight. After meeting on the set of cursed production of When The Curtain Falls, Olive and Oscar must battle against the haunting of tragedy and heartbreak thrust upon them. Can they survive the ghost of the theatre’s past hell bent on sabotaging them?
Carrie Hope Fletcher is an inspiration to everyone with an interest in the theatre arts, so with an announcement about a book centred around the theatre, who better to write it then Carrie?! However, the end result was a little disappointing.
As expected, the knowledge surrounding things involving the theatre was very clear whilst reading, the mundane tasks of a performer explained within the narrative making the protagonist very alive within the pages. The split between Olive and 1950’s actress, Fawn, was also a lovely inclusion, making the theatrics more within within When The Curtain Falls’ haunting history. The narrative throughout was casual, simple language, which made for an easy to read, steady paced novel. However, although the premise was interesting, the product was very cliche and extremely romance led rather than centred around the tragedy. The romance, however, was also quite rushed and lacking in substance. At the beginning of the novel, the protagonists are already in a committed relationship, completely passing the stomach-flipping introductions that make romance novels so addictive.
In conclusion, I had extremely high hopes of a theatrical ghost story told by an actress herself. However, the novel read a little too much like a fan-fiction of the author’s personal life for my liking.
3/5
A Little Fool Reads 