I've read a fictionalised version of Shakespeare's life before, and blogged about it here, but this one is different in that the story is told from the viewpoint of Nicholas Talbot, a budding and ambitious young actor. He escapes an intolerable home life by joining a company of players, which is based in London but which travels the Shires when the London theatres are closed.
His story pulls together some of the major characters of the time - Christopher Marlow, (Shakespeare's volatile playwright contemporary), Robert Cecil (the Queen's spymaster) and Shakespeare himself.
Nicholas becomes a spy, travelling Europe, but is also being pulled back home to his sweetheart and the estate he has inherited. His life is full of adventure and risk, during which he becomes a close friend of Christopher Marlow and they hatch a plot to save Marlow's life and talent. Did they succeed? Was Marlow killed in an ale house brawl, as history records? Who really wrote Shakespeare's plays? Was it the man himself - who was born in rural Warwickshire and never left these shores, or someone else who had travelled extensively and understood the social and political situations in Europe that were so obvious in these famous plays?
This book postulates yet another theory. Whether you believe it, or not, you'll find yourself questioning much of what you think is true.
Recommended.
'The Great Lie' is published by Honno Books, ISBN 978-1-906784-16-4
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