Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone?

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2002.

Twin sisters Madeline and Chelsea Stone are joint stars of the AtomicKids sitcom Double Trouble, but everyone knows it’s Maddie who shines most brightly. Until Chelsea beats her sister out for the role of a lifetime and is catapulted into the spotlight. And just as Chelsea’s star reaches impossible new heights, Maddie disappears.

2025.

Chelsea Stone retired from acting after her sister’s disappearance – but living life under the radar is easier said than done when you’re the most famous woman of your generation.

When a storage locker is found containing heart-breaking truths about the year Maddie went missing, Chelsea feels a flicker of hope for the first time in twenty years. This is her chance to discover what really happened to her twin, but to follow the trail she’ll have to face the past and step back into the spotlight . . .

A glamorous, sexy, fascinating read about damaged people and what really happens to child-stars.
Marian Keyes, bestselling author of MY FAVOURITE MISTAKE

Razor-sharp and utterly spellbinding, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MADELINE STONE? boldly cracks open the glittering world of child stardom and, in O’Neill’s uniquely compelling style, lays bare the dark and reaching cost of fame. Questions of identity and destiny underpin this thrilling tour-de-force, which will stay with you long after the final page. I absolutely devoured it!
Catherine Doyle, bestselling author of TWIN CROWNS

About Louise O'Neill

Louise O’Neill is a bestselling author from Clonakilty, West Cork. Her debut novel, Only Ever Yours, won multiple awards including the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year and the inaugural YA Book Prize. Her second novel, Asking For It, spent 52 consecutive weeks in the Irish top 10 and was awarded the Michael L Printz honour by the American Library Association.
She has since published The Surface Breaks, a feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid, which was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards, and three novels for adults: Almost Love, After the Silence — named Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2020 — and Idol, which went straight into the Irish book charts at #1. Her memoir, A Bigger Life, is coming in autumn 2026. Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone? is her latest novel.

Details

Imprint: Transworld Digital
Published: 09/04/2026
ISBN: 9781473596191
Length: 320 pages
Price: £7.99

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Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone?

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Pre-order:

A glamorous, sexy, fascinating read about damaged people and what really happens to child-stars.

An unflinching examination of the destruction wrought by fame. Part Me Too thriller, part family tragedy. It reckons with our celebrity-obsessed culture and confronts our dark impulse to consume and then destroy women in the spotlight. Confronting, compulsive and profound

About Louise O'Neill

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