Publisher's Synopsis
Love's Labour's Won: The Secret Life of William Shakespeare is a historical, cradle-to-the-grave, fictional autobiography of the world's most influential playwright. It describes the many trials and tribulations Shakespeare had to endure to achieve his stage and business success, as well as the transformative effect those trials had upon his character. The novel creates a distinctive narrative voice for the world's most admired playwright by seamlessly integrating dozens of Shakespeare's poems and play excerpts into his riveting and surprisingly little-known life story. The novel takes the reader on a journey from Shakespeare's infancy and boyhood in the small provincial town of Stratford-upon-Avon, through his early adult life and marriage, his professional life as a playwright and actor in London, and his brief retirement and last days with his family back in Stratford. There are many academic histories which purport to tell the story of Shakespeare's life, but there are few works which dramatize it in a fast-reading manner. The novel not only illuminates much of what we know about Shakespeare's life, it also sheds a searing light upon the prides and prejudices of the later Elizabethan and early Jacobean Ages. The idiosyncratic cast of characters that enliven this saga include: Shakespeare's clever and supportive wife Anne, his parents, siblings, children, sons-in-law, granddaughter, aristocratic patrons, Stratford and London friends, his mentor John Cottam, his first employer, Alexander Hoghton, his persecutor Thomas Lucy, his lawyer Francis Collins, as well as a bevy of Elizabethan celebrities, including theatre impresario James Burbage, leading-men Richard Burbage and Edward Alleyn, beloved comedians Dick Tarlton and Will Kemp, former lady of the night Emma Ball, Catholic priest and government nemesis Edmund Campion, competing playwrights and sometime friends Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson, proto-psychoanalyst and magus Simon Forman, Shakespeare's refugee French Huguenot housemates Christopher and Marie Mountjoy, Queen Elizabeth, King James and Queen Anne. An extensive "All Things Shakespeare" afterword includes sections on "Separating Fact From Fiction," "Recommended Reading," "Great and Good Shakespearian Movies," "Essential Documentaries," "Shakespearian Vacations and Day Trips," and "The Plays The Thing" (seeing live performances). The novel and its information-packed afterword make for a uniquely entertaining experience that will make its avid readers expert in "All Things Shakespeare."
