A delicious and intriguing historical novel about the
woman who was William Shakespeare’s secret wife— by New
York Times–bestselling author, Karen
Harper.
In Mistress Shakespeare,
Elizabethan beauty Anne Whateley reveals intimate details
of her dangerous, daring life and her great love, William
Shakespeare. As historical records show, Anne Whateley of
Temple Grafton is betrothed to Will just days before he is
forced to wed the pregnant Anne Hathaway of Shottery. The
clandestine Whateley/Shakespeare match is a meeting of
hearts and heads that no one—not even Queen Elizabeth or
her spymasters—can destroy. From rural Stratford-upon-
Avon to teeming London, the passionate pair struggles to
stay solvent and remain safe from Elizabeth I’s campaign
to hunt down secret Catholics, of whom Shakespeare is
rumored to be a part. Often at odds, always in love, the
couple sells Will’s first plays and, as he climbs to
theatrical power in Elizabeth’s England, they fend off
fierce competition from rival London dramatists, ones as
treacherous as they are talented. Persecution and plague,
insurrection and inferno, friends and foes, even
executions of those they hold dear, bring Anne’s
heartrending story to life. Spanning half a century of
Elizabethan and Jacobean history and sweeping from the
lowest reaches of society to the royal court, this richly
textured novel tells the real story of Shakespeare in love.
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