This is the story of one middle-aged woman in a cardigan determined to understand the growing phenomenon of online romance fraud. No other woman has had so many online romances – from Keanu Reeves to Brad Pitt to Prince William. By winding up scammers and investigating the truth behind their profiles, Becky Holmes shines a revealing, revolting and frequently hilarious light on a very shady corner of the internet. This event will be chaired by forthcoming memoirist Yvonne Jewkes.
‘I knew Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love With You by Becky Holmes would be hilarious because I’ve been following her interactions with romance scammers on Twitter for a while. What I wasn’t prepared for was that it would also be eye opening and sometimes heartbreaking. A fabulous and – dare I say it – important read’ Jane Fallon
‘A funny, sweary, absurd delight that knows just when to take the subject seriously too. I loved it’ Dave Gorman
Becky Holmes is the creator of, and voice behind, the popular Twitter account @deathtospinach.
Having been on the receiving end of an annoyingly high number of direct messages from online romance scammers, Becky started to enjoy wasting their time and then publicly ‘outing’ their accounts.
No other woman has had so many online romances – from Keanu Reeves to Brad Pitt to Prince William, not to mention the dozens of US soldiers serving in the Middle East who have fallen in love with her (and asked her for money) immediately after saying hello.
Becky has a first class BA (Hons) from Royal Holloway, University of London, which she somehow managed to achieve between pints of lager. After graduating she spent 15 years working in public relations and crisis management. Now her dream is to marry comedian Greg Davies (despite his refusal to engage with her on any form of social media), rescue greyhounds and write books. Keanu Reeves Is Not In Love With You is her first book.
Yvonne Jewkes is author of An Architecture of Hope: Reimagining the Prison, Restoring a House, Rebuilding Myself (Scribe, Sept 2024), described by Jennie Godfrey (author of The List of Suspicious Things) as a ‘deeply vulnerable, beautifully written personal memoir… a triumph’, and by Joe Moran (author of First You Write a Sentence) as a book ‘full of hard-won authority and expertise conveyed in tenderly human ways.
