Stage Mum

When Lisa Gee's six-year-old daughter, Dora, goes to an open audition for the West End production of The Sound of Music, it's just a fun way to occupy some time in the Easter holidays. But when Dora unexpectedly lands the role, Lisa soon learns that Dora's brush with fame has less to do with paparazzi and lucrative paydays and more to do with endless rehearsals and outsize egos.

Part fairy tale, part cautionary tale, this is the hilarious, engaging account of one child's step into the limelight. From the initial try-out with over a thousand Von Trapp hopefuls to performing on the London stage with Connie Fisher and an encounter with Julie Andrews, mother and daughter navigate the minefield of rehearsals, auditions and fame. This is a heart-warming glimpse into the sometimes not-so-glamorous world of show business and the delicate balance between being proud and being pushy. Stage Mum is a story for every parent who dreams big and every child who dreams bigger.

Lisa Gee is the author of Friends: Why Men and Women Are From the Same Planet (Bloomsbury, 2004), the editor of Bricks Without Mortar: the selected poems of Hartley Coleridge (Picador, 2000) and of the Orange Prize for Fiction website. She writes book reviews and features for the national press (including the Independent, the Guardian and the Telegraph) and lives in Harlesden, north-west London, with one performing child and her husband, a children's party entertainer.