Description

Vanessa Kisuule is a big Michael Jackson fan. This fixation once gave her great joy, but now it keeps her up at night. In her bracingly honest, energetic and lively book she explores the fall-out from that fandom and how, or if, we can hold people to account whilst loving them at the same time.

Why do famous musicians mean so much to us? How does the pop culture machine both mirror and magnify the worst aspects of human nature? Why is it so hard to accept that the people we love, famous or not, are capable of doing terrible things?

As debates rage on about abusive public figures, Kisuule asks not just if we should separate the art from the artist, but how this moral conundrum informs the way we shape our relationships, families and notions of social justice. Witty, poetic and with references to R. Kelly, Britney Spears and a host of other famous faces, Neverland is both an ardent love letter to the music we love and an unflinching look at the costs of hero worship.

Publisher Review

One of the most interesting writers at work in this country today. An exhilarating stylist and a beautiful thinker — MAX PORTER Neverland is a brutal, brave and beautifully written book that asks uncomfortable questions and exposes uncomfortable truths. As we follow Kisuule’s conflicted journey, we are forced to unpack our own relationship with celebrity and fandom from a perspective rarely seen. Nuanced, necessary and will start many conversations — YOMI ADEGOKE In Neverland Vanessa Kisuule turns the intense, passionate gaze of the fan away from her object and back onto herself. Rather than asking the question can I still love this personal canonical figure in the knowledge of the harms they perpetrated?, Kisuule explores what we can learn about ourselves through our fandom. It’s thrilling and rare to read a writer going at this inquiry with her teeth — AMY KEY Neverland is a riveting and courageous exploration of idolisation and personal morality. With unflinching precision, Kisuule examines how cultural icons shape and sometimes distort our moral landscapes. She is a remarkable thinker who seeks to understand rather than judge. And a remarkable writer who conveys her message in thunderous prose — NATHAN FILER The most human untangling of a complex and intricate love that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Incisive, and as funny as it is sharp — CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS An exquisitely written, breathtakingly honest, deeply intelligent book that the world needs, that will ignite your humanity in unexpected ways. Vanessa Kisuule is a rare and brave talent — DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE Vanessa Kisuule is always the smartest, funniest, courageous person in any room and this book is a testament to all of who she is. This is so much more than a book about separating art from artists, which is often such a banal approach. Instead, this is a book about coming of age, with reckoning with yourself, your fallibilities, your vulnerabilities. Vanessa writes with clarity, conviction and heart, and every page is the smartest, funniest, most courageous writing in any room — NIKESH SHUKLA Neverland is an unmissable exploration of our crazy codependence with the artists we adore, of what they do for us and what we do to them. Funny, wise and beautifully written, it brilliantly evokes how the things we love change and challenge us. I couldn’t stop reading it — MATT ROWLAND HILL Praise for Vanessa Kisuule: ‘Her words make the world exciting again — HOLLIE MCNISH Vanessa Kisuule is an explosion wrapped in ribbon — JOELLE TAYLOR