A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She's a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said. The film star M is one of the most recognizable faces of our time. Her image is everywhere. It has been like that since she was a child. With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. M may live in the same places as real people. She may meet her friends or collect her children from school or walk her dogs as they do. But it seems the rules of reality have melted away. Now, a writer has decided to pay close attention to M's life, in the hope of understanding who she really is. It is hard not to feel ugly next to M, hard not to feel insignificant. But what truths-about the very experience of living-might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture? Is M to play a character in the book, or is it the writer who is acting the role of M?

• Format: Paperback / softback
• Publication Date: 01/09/2026
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Country of Origin: United Kingdom
• Edition: Export - Airside ed
• Pages: 192