Recently graduated young actor Maddie lives the slacker life in mid-90s Glasgow with deadbeat boyfriend Mike. Estranged from her mother due to a violent step-dad, most of the young couple’s meager resources go to drink and drugs. Maddie and some friends harbor hopes of putting on their own production of The Tempest. As she moves from one low-paid acting role to another, and from the abusive relationship with Mike to talented actor Alex, can Maddie confront the past and find a way of living in the present? This book perfectly evokes 90s Britain and those living on the margins, while others prosper. This is a compelling study of one young woman learning the life of an actor, as she learns how to live life, negotiating the self-destructive temptations of young adulthood