Cause Celeb - Hardcover

Rosie Richardson, short-skirted, under-appreciated Publicity Gel, dumps her egotistical, bullying, TV presenter boyfriend and heads to Africa to save the natives. But after four years in the plains, a plague of locusts and civil war take their toll, the frustrated and disillusioned Rosie is pushed back to her media-dahling roots in London.

Armed with a bucket full of will power, she fends off the determined amorous advances of her ex whilst trying to enlist his celebrity-pulling power to further her personal Cause Celeb: a Live Aid inspired celebrity television appeal to raise cash for food in the country she left behind.

Cause Celeb isn't exactly ground breaking but it does manage to bring a little gravitas to what is basically a novel about love, sex and a world where insincere celebs are fawned over by all and sundry. The descriptions of the African camp where Rosie spends four years of her life (concentrating on her career until a doctor--hunky, naturally--woos her over a few bloodied bodies) are vivid enough to force the dramatic irony forward as Rosie's past and present collide, and her jaded experiences of London life will certainly ring true for many readers.

All in all, Cause Celeb is the kind of book you might read in the bath or on the beach--not too taxing but involving and spirited enough to make you want to find out what happens in the end. --Susan Harrison

A champion first novel . . . what makes it such a pleasure to read is its variety of tone: flip, flirtatious, serious, mocking and moving . . . get hold of a copy of this book. (Observer)

A terrific achievement . . . The camp scenes are as moving and funny as the original M*A*S*H; she sends up the self-important “mediacracy” with an insider’s wit, and it’s written at a romping pace with a cliff-hanger finish. (Cosmopolitan)

Sharp, gutsy and refreshing. (Independent)

Thoughtful, ironic and completely gripping. (Harry Enfield)

A brilliantly funny satire. (Time Out)