Andrew O'Hagan: Personality [2003] trade paperback

Maria Tambini is a 13-year-old girl with an amazing singing voice, growing up above her Italian-immigrant mother's chip shop on the Scottish island of Bute, living at the centre of her family's dream of fame. When Maria wins a national TV talent show she is taken to London and becomes an instant star of what used to be called the London Palladium, yet all the while 'the girl with the giant voice' is losing herself in fame and begins a private war against her own body. Maria becomes a living exhibit in the modern drama of celebrity: is it possible that she can be saved by love? Or is she to be consumed by an obsessive culture, by family lies and her number one fan? Featuring a wonderful cast of characters who encompass a whole society, its history and its spirit, Personality is a profoundly affecting and beautiful novel by one of the finest writers of prose today.