'Spiky, clever, funny' – Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters
'Brilliant, propulsive . . . A riot'– Maddie Mortimer, author of Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
'A delicious gallop through 90s tabloid London' – Sam McAlister, author of Scoops

It’s peak 90s London. Shoulder pads are out, crimped hair is in, supermodels are known by their first names, and Becky Sharp will do anything to escape her past.

From mingling with tabloid millionaires to trading favours and fortunes with royalty, she will stop at nothing to reach the top of the career ladder at the Mercury newspaper. Landing scoop after scoop, Becky ruthlessly carves a place for herself in a society determined to ignore her. These are the biggest stories and scandals of the decade, and she has something to do with every one of them.

But Becky may have more in common with the people she writes about than she thinks – what takes a lifetime to build takes only a moment to destroy . . .

Sarah May is the author of Becky, The Nudist Colony (shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award and winner of the Amazon Bursary), Spanish City (shortlisted for the Encore Award), The Internationals (longlisted for the Women's Prize) and the bestselling Rise and Fall of the Queen of Suburbia. She also teaches creative writing at Faber Academy and has mentored many brilliant new voices in fiction. Sarah lives in Sussex and when she isn’t writing and teaching, works with her partner taking Shakespeare to young people and places the Bard hasn’t been before.