Performance: An electrifying memoir from the dark heart of London's Soho

In Performance, Ruth Ivo, a former burlesque performer, becomes the show director of a mysterious and notorious club in Soho. As she delves into the world of glamour and chaos, she loses her grip on reality and struggles with the moral consequences of her actions. The book is a vivid portrayal of the excesses of late capitalism and a haunting exploration of the human soul.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 09 May 2024
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Enthralling... Ivo captures the euphoria and comedown of Soho's clubland so acutely that THE TIMES describes it as "stunning". Sophie Mackintosh praises it as a "love letter to the aliveness of London and its nightlife", while Octavia Bright calls it a "wild night of a book". Ruby, Ruth Ivo, is a successful burlesque performer living in blissful bohemian squalor on a decommissioned military boat, spending her evenings unfolding from a Fabergé egg in various London clubs. Her life changes when she is asked to become the show director at The Club, a place as secretive as it is notorious. Before long, she's trawling Soho's back streets for props and knocking back shots with movie stars and billionaires.

But as her nights unravel in a maelstrom of glamour and chaos behind the scenes, she feels her grasp on reality slipping through her fingers, and her soul wrung out by decadence. Under pressure to produce shows each more shocking than the last, she watches the performers under her care contort themselves before baying crowds. When a devastating event leaves her unmoored, Ruby has to wonder if she's sold her soul to the devil or become him.

Performance is a visceral and exquisitely written portrait of a place that has come to embody the excesses of late capitalism; of tumbling willingly down the rabbit hole, only to lose yourself in the dark. It is theatrical, immersive, and utterly heartbreaking. An astonishing debut, according to Christie Watson, who also praises it as a story this addictive, it's hard not to consume it in one go. Rhynnon Styles describes it as "a story this addictive, it's hard not to consume it in one go", and Jodie Harsh says it brought that lost world back in vivid colours.

Weight: 374g
Dimension: 145 x 224 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399720700