An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

Liverpool, 1950. Sixteen-year-old Stella is hired as assistant stage manager by a repertory theatre company and soon falls into a heady infatuation with the director, Meredith - failing to notice how he shows not only no interest in her, but in any woman. When the celebrated actor O'Hara arrives to take the lead in their production of Peter Pan, it sets in motion a drama offstage of lost innocence, tragedy and miscommunication.