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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, an “inspiring” (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.
“You’ll fall in love with Emilia Bassano, the unforgettable heroine based on a real woman that Picoult brings vividly to life in her brilliantly researched new novel.”—Kristin Hannah, author of The Women
As an undergraduate, Melina Green had a rare opportunity to have one of her first plays judged by famous theatre critic Jasper Tolle, only to be publicly humiliated by a harsh and biased critique. Ten years later, her confidence as a playwright hasn't recovered, even though she has just completed a work that she thinks is her best yet. It is based on the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, the first published female poet in England—and rumored to be the “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets—but whom some scholars suspect may be the real author of a number of his plays. Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, and then her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits it to a festival under a male pseudonym.
In 1581, the young orphan Emilia Bassano is being raised in the ways of the English aristocracy by the Baron Willoughby and his sister. Her lessons on languages, reading and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling. But like most women of her day, she has no control over her fate, and is ripped from her old life and forced to become a courtesan to Lord Hunsdon, a man knighted by Queen Elizabeth as the Lord Chamberlain in charge of all theatre in London. Though she has no other freedoms, she pseudonymously sets her own pen to paper, inspired by the work of the most brilliant playwrights of the time.
Told in dual intertwining timelines, this sweeping tale of ambition, courage and desire centres two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. As Emilia alters the course of her life, and the world, she blazes a trail. Centuries later, will Melina face the same terrible fate—to have her work celebrated, but only at the price of letting another take credit?
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 20, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781039002630
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781039002630
- File size: 6017 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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June 3, 2024
Picoult (Wish You Were Here) offers a stimulating if muddled parallel narrative of two women writers, each of whose work is credited to a man. In 1582, poet Emilia Bassano becomes consort to Lord Hunsdon, Queen Elizabeth’s Lord Chamberlain. At the time, women were forbidden to have anything to do with the theater, but when Emilia crosses paths with William Shakespeare, he’s impressed with her work and agrees to pay for the sonnets and plays she’s secretly written if he can take credit for them. Thus begins a working relationship that spans decades. In the present day, Emilia’s descendant Melina Green writes a play about Emilia and Shakespeare, but fears she won’t be able to get it produced after being told that people only relate to plays by men. Unbeknownst to Melina, her roommate, Andre, submits the play to a fringe festival under the pseudonym Mel Green, leading the artistic director to assume the writer is a man. After the play is accepted, Andre poses as Mel during the production, with Melina pretending to be his assistant. The Elizabethan sections, which follow Emilia through an unhappy marriage as the work she wrote for Shakespeare receives acclaim, are the strongest. In comparison, Picoult’s depictions of racism and sexism in the contemporary theater world are a bit simplistic. It’s a mixed bag. Agent: Laura Gross, Laura Gross Literary.
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