One Woman Show

Format:

Buy the book from:

Amazon Blackwells Bookshop.org Foyles Hive Waterstones WHSmith

Prized, collected, critiqued. One Woman Show revolves around the fictional life of Kitty Whitaker as she is defined by her potential for display and moved from collection to collection through multiple marriages. Christine Coulson, who has written hundreds of exhibition wall labels for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, precisely distils each stage of Kitty's sprawling life into that distinct format, every brief snapshot in time a wry reflection on womanhood, ownership, value and power.

Described with wit, poignancy and humour over the course of the twentieth century, Kitty emerges as an eccentric heroine who disrupts her privileged, porcelain life with both major force and minor transgressions. As human foibles propel each delicately crafted text, Coulson playfully asks: who really gets to tell our stories?

Thrilling… filled with twists in Kitty’s story that compel and captivate… the experimental format carries an enjoyable tale impressively… each wall label is under seventy-five words, and suffused with the language of museums… this style refines eloquently Coulson’s expansive ideas about womanhood and history
Laura Baliman, TLS

Wildly original…[A] tiny but powerful novel… It’s sometimes snarky, sometimes sad, with enough poignant moments to make me wish it could go on and on. … You can sit down and read it in less time than it takes to drive to the art museum, but you’ll be thinking about it for far longer. If you appreciate truly original structure and storytelling, put this modern masterwork on your reading list.
NPR

About Christine Coulson

Christine Coulson spent twenty-five years writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her final project was to write wall labels for the museum's new British Galleries. During that time, she dreamt of using the Met's strict label format to describe people as intricate works of art. Her first experiment with this idea described an imaginary woman called Kitty, who became the unlikely protagonist of One Woman Show.

Details

Imprint: Penguin
Published: 09/01/2025
ISBN: 9781802067262
Length: 208 pages
Dimensions: 198mm x 13mm x 129mm
Weight: 159g
Price: £10.99

All editions

Paperback 2025
Ebook 2023

One Woman Show

Format:

Buy the book from:

Strange, biting, tender, and heartbreaking in turns. AND all at once . . . I read it in one fell swoop. It is brilliant

A funny and clever take on the interchangeability of women and works of arts as possessions

Beautiful, beautiful book . . . the cover is absolutely gorgeous, it would make a delicious Christmas gift

Coulson tells us Kitty Whitaker’s story stylishly and succinctly through label-length entries

Compulsive and spry

Coulson’s formally inventive, witty novel uses gallery captions to capture Kitty’s journey through the 20th century. At once terse and expansive, this is a literary experiment that intrigues

A highly original and imaginative work that captivates and intrigues . . . so brief that it can be read straight through in an hour, but that is not to say it is slight . . . Coulson’s unusual command of language rewards multiple readings

the writing is clever, witty and deftly – and at times poignantly–executed, and that more than earns One Woman Show its coveted red dot (aka sales sticker) from us’

About Christine Coulson

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter