Shakespeare's legacy lives on in a novel of secrets, illicit love and yearning, brought to us by master storyteller Richard B. Wright. Shakespeare's legacy lives on in a novel of secrets, illicit love and yearning, brought to us by master storyteller Richard B. Wright.In failing health, Aerlene Ward, an elderly housekeeper in an Oxfordshire manor, feels compelled to confess the incredible secret that has shaped her life: she is the illegitimate daughter of William Shakespeare, England's most famous playwright. But will anyone believe her? Even Charlotte, the young mistress of the house, who is writing down Aerlene's words, seems doubtful. Enchanted by the power and rhythm of words that she considers her birthright, coupled with her own imaginative mind, Aerlene draws back the curtain on her life and that of her mother, the sensual Elizabeth, who allowed herself to be seduced by a poor but ambitious writer from Stratford. As her tale unfolds, secrets are revealed, mysteries are uncovered, and lives are changed in the most unexpected of ways. MR. SHAKESPEARE'S BAStARD interweaves an engaging blend of invention and historical detail, with echoes of the Bard himself. Richard B. Wright, master storyteller, brings the teeming streets of Elizabethan London to life in a novel about love, daring, beauty and play that will delight the senses and touch the heart of every reader.

“A book for anyone who loves Shakespeare . . . One of the most scandalous and potentially revolutionary theories about the authorship of these immortal works.” —Mark Rylance, First Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre It is perhaps the greatest story never told: the truth behind the most enduring works of literature in the English language, perhaps in any language. Who was William Shakespeare? Critically acclaimed historian Charles Beauclerk has spent more than two decades researching the authorship question, and if the plays were discovered today, he argues, we would see them for what they are—shocking political works written by a court insider, someone with the monarch’s indulgence, shielded from repression in an unstable time of armada and reformation. But the author’s identity was quickly swept under the rug after his death. The official history—of an uneducated merchant writing in near obscurity, and of a virginal queen married to her country—dominated for centuries. Shakespeare’s Lost Kingdom delves deep into the conflicts and personalities of Elizabethan England, as well as the plays themselves, to tell the true story of the “Soul of the Age.” “Beauclerk’s learned, deep scholarship, compelling research, engaging style and convincing interpretation won me completely. He has made me view the whole Elizabethan world afresh. The plays glow with new life, exciting and real, infused with the soul of a man too long denied his inheritance.” —Sir Derek Jacobi

Sir William Davenant (1606–1668) – Poet Laureate and Civil War hero – is one of the most influential and neglected figures in the history of British theatre. He introduced ‘opera’, actresses, scenes and the proscenium arch to the English stage. Narrowly escaping execution for his Royalist activities during the Civil War, he revived theatrical performances in London, right under Oliver Cromwell’s nose. Nobody, perhaps, did more to secure Shakespeare’s reputation or to preserve the memory of the Bard.Davenant was known to boast over a glass of wine that he wrote ‘with the very spirit’ of Shakespeare and was happy to be thought of as Shakespeare’s son. By recounting the story of his eventful life backwards, through his many trials and triumphs, this biography culminates with a fresh examination of the vexed issue of Davenant’s paternity. Was Sir William’s mother the voluptuous and maddening ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and was he Shakespeare’s ‘lovely boy’?

A portrait of the writing life and memoir that reads like a novel.

Who really wrote the plays of Shakespeare?