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Coronet has acquired Performance by Ruth Ivo, a former burlesque performer turned director of x-rated shows at “The Club” – an anonymisation of the establishment she worked at.
Harriet Poland, editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from John Ash at CAA. It will be published in hardback, e-book and audiobook in May 2024.
The publisher synopsis reads: “Ruth Ivo was a successful burlesque performer, living in blissful Bohemian squalor on a decommissioned military boat, and spending her evenings unfolding from a Fabergé egg in various London clubs. Her life changes when she is asked to become show director at ‘The Club’, a place as secretive as it is notorious. Before long, she’s trawling Soho 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, Ivo feels her grasp on reality slipping through her fingers; 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, Ruth has to wonder if she’s sold her soul to the devil. Or become him.”
Coronet describes the book as an “exquisitely written, visceral and fearless” account of a place that’s come to embody the excesses of late capitalism, of tumbling willingly down the rabbit hole only to lose yourself in the dark. “The teeming underbelly of London, endless indulgence of the rich and the extraordinary stories of the performers they use in pursuit of pleasure, all come together in this unmissable memoir,” it says.
Ivo said: “The performers I worked alongside during my years on the stranger end of the theatrical spectrum have long been an inspiration to me. It’s a privilege to be able to share a glimpse into their world. I’m so grateful to the team at Coronet for taking a chance and being such a dream on every step of this wild journey."
Poland commented: “Do you want adventure and wiles and bile and blood; lust and bodies, pure ecstasy and hopeless decay; and carnal caves of vivid delights? Then this is the book for you. A writer of rare candour, luminous characterisation, and pure verve, Ruth Ivo is a true talent, we’re so excited.”