Product Description
In a quiet manor house in Oxfordshire, an ailing housekeeper by the name of Aerlene Ward feels that she must now confess the great secret that has shaped her life: she is the illegitimate daughter of William Shakespeare, England’s most famous playwright.
With a brilliant eye and ear for this rich period of history, Richard B. Wright brings to life the teeming streets of Elizabethan London and the seasonal rhythms of rural life in Oliver Cromwell’s England as he interweaves the intriguing stories of the lovely Elizabeth, who is seduced by a struggling young writer from Stratford, and her plain but clever daughter who must live with the consequences. As their lives unfold, secrets are revealed, love is found and lost, and futures are forever changed. Readers will be fascinated by glimpses of the young Will as an actor with the Queen’s Men and, fifteen years later, as the world-weary but increasingly wealthy playwright. An engaging blend of invention and historical detail, Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard confirms Wright as one of our finest storytellers. "An immensely entertaining group...Wright is a gifted storyteller and in Mr. Shakespeare's Bastard he's at his absolute storytelling best."-Winnipeg Free Press "Haunting...One gets a strong sense that variations on these women-shut out of the bawdy, bustling world of the Globe Theatre-actually existed, and we should be grateful to Wright for training a careful lens on them."-The Globe and Mail "A smartly paced, lively, and Shakespearean story of the many-splendoured varieties of love."-Maclean's
About the Author
Richard Wright is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including The Age of Longing (nominated for the Governer General′s Literary Award and the Giller Prize in 1995), Clara Callan (winner of the Governer General′s Literary Award, the Trillium Award and the Giller Prize in 2001), and Adultery (2004). In 2006 Wright was nominated for an International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
