Hollywood Ending

Set in a glamorous and seedy Los Angeles, Hollywood Ending is a story that will make your heart skip a beat.

Pink-haired Hilda and endearing punk Benji, both seventeen, have an obsessive hobby—they haunt the places where Hollywood celebrities have died.

In rundown Echo Park, once the hub of the movie business, they find the squalid apartment where a second-rate silent movie star stabbed himself to death with nail scissors. Its current tenant is Hank, an old man with a mysterious past.

While Benji dives deeper into the cult of celebrity death, Hank and Hilda make an unlikely pair. Then Jake the screenwriter turns up. What’s his story?

Kathy Charles has talent to burn and takes the reader into the heart of the movie world, and the shadows of our own personal histories. Hollywood Ending is a thriller, a comedy about the weirdness of growing up, and a wry love-letter to Los Angeles.

Praise for Kathy Charles and Hollywood Ending:

‘Dark, funny, endlessly fascinating and beautifully human. I stayed up all night reading Hollywood Ending and then had crazy dreams.’

Simmone Howell

‘A wonderfully crafted tale of friendship…Charles has debuted with a fantastically strong and unique story…A smashing good read.’

Persnickety Snark Blog

‘A gruesomely engaging story from this young writer, skilfully written…very funny.’

Sydney Morning Herald

‘Fantasy and reality smash in this distinctive debut.’

Vogue

‘Kathy Charles’ debut is neo-gothic young adult fiction, atmospheric and written with confidence.’

Age

‘Glitzy, glamorous, seedy, squalid: Los Angeles is a perfect setting for two troubled teens obsessed with celebrity deaths to while away their summer holidays…[Charles is] excellent at evoking the drifting listlessness of teenagers…Hollywood Ending is satisfyingly quirky and offbeat, with a touching ending that warms the heart while avoiding even a hint of sentimentality.’

Who Weekly