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by Jude Morgan
There are so few established facts about how the son of a glove maker from Warwickshire became one of the greatest writers of all time that some people doubt he could really have written so many astonishing plays. We know that he married Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant and six years older than he, at the age of eighteen, and that one of their children died of the plague. We know that he left Stratford to seek his fortune in London, and eventually succeeded. He was clearly an unwilling craftsman, ambitious actor, resentful son, almost good-enough husband. But when and how did he also become a genius?
The Secret Life of William Shakespeare pulls back the curtain to imagine what it might have really been like to be Shakespeare before a seemingly ordinary man became a legend. In the hands of acclaimed historical novelist Jude Morgan, this is a brilliantly convincing story of unforgettable richness, warmth, and immediacy.
"Starred Review. It's hard to imagine a better historical novel about the Bard than this one: in quality and power, it rivals Hilary Mantel's justly acclaimed books." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. In a layered narrative with a richness that rewards measured reading, Morgan re-creates Shakespeare's Elizabethan milieu, every place and person rendered with near-perfect realism. A tour de force." - Kirkus
This information about The Secret Life of William Shakespeare 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.
Jude Morgan, who studied with Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter, lives in England. Morgan's previous works include Emily and Charlotte, a novel about the Brontë sisters; An Accomplished Woman; Symphony; Indiscretion; and Passion, which was called "one of the best books of 2005" by The Washington Post Book World; and most recently A Little Folly.
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"Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare's life … here is a novel … so gorgeously written that it transports you." —The Boston Globe
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