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A Novel
by Hesse Phillips
A thrilling reimagining of the last days of one of the most famed Elizabethan playwrights—Christopher Marlowe—and of a love that flourishes within the margins.
Christopher Marlowe: playwright, poet, lover. In the plague-stricken streets of Elizabethan England, Kit flirts with danger, leaving a trail of enemies and old flames in his wake. His plays are a roaring success; he seems destined for greatness.
But in the spring of 1593, the queen's eyes are everywhere and the air is laced with paranoia. Marlowe receives an unwelcome visit from his one-time mentor, Richard Baines, a man who knows all of Marlowe's secrets and is hell-bent on his destruction.
When Marlowe is arrested on charges of treason, heresy, and sodomy—all of which are punishable by death—he is released on bail with the help of Sir Thomas Walsingham. Kit presumes Walsingham to be his friend; in fact, the spymaster has hired an assassin to take care of Kit, fearing that his own sins may come to light.
Now, with the queen's spies and the vengeful Baines closing in on the playwright, Marlowe's last friend in the world is Ingram Frizer, a total stranger who is obsessed with Kit's plays, and who will, within ten days' time, first become Marlowe's lover—and then his killer. Richly atmospheric, emotionally devastating, and heartrendingly imagined, Lightborne is a masterful reimagining of the last days of one of England's most famous literary figures.
"Hesse Phillips' dazzling Lightborne returns us to a world of more moral certainty but considerably more physical danger, telling the story of Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, the Elizabethan dramatist and spy, with a thrillingly intense sense of period. As a gay man, Kit is especially vulnerable to blackmail, tangling with malevolent agents of the state while attempting to write his masterpieces. The novel is a hugely impressive, visceral and moving portrait of one of the era's most captivating and mysterious characters." —Financial Times (UK)
"A deliciously complex, vivid portrait of a violent and fascinating period, with an addictively charismatic cast of characters. Heart-wrenching, bold and earthy, this book gripped me and wouldn't let me go." —Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells
"Imaginative, atmospheric, and heartpoundingly tense, time is running out for Christopher Marlowe in this excellent debut. He seeks refuge from his enemies in the arms of his new lover, but is Frizer as much danger as solace? Forget all the polite queer historical novels that tell no truths – here is one boldly full of them." —Neil Blackmore, author of Radical Love
"Absolutely fantastic. A deeply impressive achievement, meticulously researched and fabulously rendered. Genuinely reminiscent of the likes Hilary Mantel or Ken Follett." —Niall Bourke, author of Line
This information about Lightborne was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Hesse Phillips (they) was raised in rural Pennsylvania but now lives in Spain. Much of their early life was spent in the theater, where they developed a love for Shakespeare and the other Elizabethan/Jacobean dramatists. They earned a BA in theater history at Marlboro College, Vermont, and later a PhD in drama from Tufts University in Boston. While writing their undergraduate thesis on Edward II, they also began working on a novel about Christopher Marlowe that would eventually become Lightborne. They are a proud graduate of Grub Street Boston's acclaimed Novel Incubator program.
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