{
    "id": 495592,
    "slug": "understudy-3",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "The Understudy",
    "subtitle": null,
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "<p><span>Recently divorced actor Stephen C. McQueen (no relation, unfortunately) seems to have a knack for bad luck. But a failed marriage, a stalled career, a judgmental ex-wife, a distant daughter, a horrid little studio apartment in the far reaches of the London suburbs&ndash;all these pathetic elements seem to pale in the chiseled face of his newest tormentor: the Twelfth Sexiest Man in the World, Josh Harper.<br /><br />Josh is the star of Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know, a biographical play about Lord Byron&ndash;and Stephen is his understudy. Not only is Josh fantastically, infuriatingly good-looking, internationally renowned, and remarkably talented, he&rsquo;s also frustratingly healthy. No matter how many all-night booze-and-coke benders Josh goes on, he always shows up at the stage door for his call like clockwork. Stephen doubts he&rsquo;ll ever get his chance to slip on the puffy shirt and tight breeches of Byron and tread the boards in the role that would certainly be the break he&rsquo;s always waited for.<br /><br />And just when Stephen&rsquo;s sure he couldn&rsquo;t resent Josh more, he meets Josh&rsquo;s witty, restless American wife, Nora... and discovers he likes her a little too much. Another man might curse his luck at finding that his potential dream woman is a rival&rsquo;s wife, but at this point, Stephen would expect nothing else. Caught between his stirring feelings for Nora, the demands of an insistent and secretive Josh, and his lifelong desire for a real career in show business, Stephen must make a terrible decision: Will it be the girl or the fame?<br /><br />A hapless, bumbling bloke in love, an arrogant megastar with a potpourri of addictions, a sexy married woman out of her element in the fast lane&ndash;David Nicholls brings them all together in this knockout romantic comedy.</span></p>",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": null,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2010-02-01",
    "publication_date_latest": "2010-02-01",
    "cover_url": null,
    "editions": [
        {
            "isbn": "9780340935217",
            "product_form": "BC"
        }
    ],
    "ratings_count": 0,
    "read_count": 0,
    "review_count": 0,
    "favorite_count": 0,
    "reading_status_read_count": 0,
    "reading_status_reading_count": 0,
    "reading_status_want_to_read_count": 0,
    "rating_average": null,
    "ratings_distribution": {
        "1": 0,
        "2": 0,
        "3": 0,
        "4": 0,
        "5": 0
    },
    "created_at": "2025-09-19T14:34:45+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-10-29T00:41:42+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 4198,
        "slug": "hodder",
        "name": "Hodder",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:08:55+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:12:31+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [
        {
            "id": 307722,
            "slug": "david-nicholls-2",
            "key_names": "Nicholls",
            "names_before_key": "David",
            "prefix_to_key": null,
            "contributor_role": "A01",
            "readable_contributor_role": "Author"
        }
    ],
    "genres": [],
    "subjects": [
        {
            "scheme_identifier": "32",
            "scheme_version": null,
            "main_subject": false,
            "subject_code": "301",
            "created_at": "2025-09-19T14:34:45+00:00",
            "updated_at": "2025-09-19T14:34:45+00:00"
        }
    ]
}