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The Grand Scheme of Things

A Novel

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 16 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 16 weeks
Two unlikely friends hatch an extraordinary scheme to expose the theater world in this wildly entertaining and sharply observed debut novel exploring perception, redemption, and how success shapes us all.
Meet Relebogile Naledi Mpho Moruakgomo. Or, for short, Eddie: an aspiring playwright who dreams of making it big in London's theater world. But after repeated rejections from white talent agents, Eddie suspects her non-white sounding name might be the problem.

Enter Hugo Lawrence Smith: good looking, well-connected, charismatic and...very white. Stifled by his law degree and looking for a way out of the corporate world, he finds a kindred spirit in Eddie after a chance encounter at a cafe.

Together they devise a plan, one which will see Eddie's play on stage and Hugo's name in lights. They send out her script under his name and vow to keep the play's origins a secret until it reaches critical levels of success. Then they can expose the theater world for its racism and hollow clout-chasing. But as their plan spins wildly out of control, Eddie and Hugo find themselves wondering if their reputations, and their friendship, can survive.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 16, 2024
      In this acerbic if uneven debut, Jay turns a fiercely critical eye on entrenched racism in the contemporary British theater scene. Relebogile Naledi Mpho Moruakgomo, an immigrant from Botswana who goes by Eddie, has written a dystopian play about race and national identity inspired by the impending Brexit referendum. Though she was the most promising student in her creative writing program, established theater agents decline to represent her. She then has a fateful coffee shop encounter with Hugo Lawrence Smith, a disaffected white trust funder and recent law school graduate who once aspired to the stage, and the two conspire to submit Eddie’s play to Britain’s most prestigious playwrighting competition under Hugo’s name. Initially, their goal is to expose the industry’s hypocrisy, but both Eddie and Hugo grow increasingly entangled in the charade. The second-person narration, addressed in turn from Eddie and Hugo to the other, feels a bit like a writing exercise, and subplots involving Hugo’s half sister and Eddie’s mom are underdeveloped. But the novel’s premise is provocative, and the characters frequently offer insightful commentaries on authorship, identity, and cultural gatekeeping. Fans of R.F. Kuan’s Yellowface should take note.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Top-notch narrations from Ony Uhiara and Sam Stafford make Jay's unflinching look at systemic racism sound and feel truthful. After numerous rejections from white London publishers and agents, determined playwright Relebogile Naledi Mpho Moruakgomo, aka "Eddie," hits upon a daring scheme to get her play performed on the London stage. Uhiara's range of voices is impressive. She handles Eddie's droll observations stylishly, she delivers British and Botswanan accents flawlessly, her pacing is spot-on, and her attitude as Eddie is convincing. Stafford, as Eddie's white acquaintance, Hugo, sounds variously impressed, confused, and doubtful before accepting Eddie's outrageous plan. Both narrators capture the author's sharp wit and clever nuances, and as things fall apart and chaos ensues, each performance adds credibility to this entertaining audiobook. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

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Languages

  • English

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