The Leading Lady's Understudy

At forty-nine, Celia Marsh remains a twice-honored fixture of the English stage, thirty years without a missed performance, even as she lies about a failing ankle and a memory that goes blank in the middle of her best speeches.

Wren Halloran has spent ten years as her understudy, two thousand nights in the wings without ever taking the stage.

When the stage lift sticks at nine inches, Celia's legend comes apart in front of nine hundred people, and by week's end both names share the dressing-room door in matching type.

Wren divides the only room Celia has left with yellow tape, because Broadway will not share a star and there is only one Constance waiting in the spring.

Forced into rivalry and proximity, the two women find themselves seen more clearly than either expected, even as each hides a secret that will decide the other's life.