What if the greatest writer of all time isn’t who we think he is?
What if he isn’t even a he?
Step back four hundred years and discover the female author who hid behind the mask of the man we know as William Shakespeare…
In Elizabethan London, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her education has endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but still she is allowed no voice of her own.
Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees the theatre, Emilia discovers the power of stories to beguile audiences. Secretly, she forms a plan to bring a play of her own to the stage – by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.
In modern-day Manhattan, playwright Melina Green finds a woman’s voice is still worth less than a man’s. But, inspired by the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, Melina takes a lesson from history and submits a play under a male pseudonym…
Moving between Elizabethan England and modern-day Manhattan, By Any Other Name is a beautifully written, compelling novel that explores the theme of identity and the ways in which two women, centuries apart – one of whom might just be the real author of Shakespeare’s plays – are both forced to hide behind another name to make their voices heard.
I was incredibly fortunate to be able to attend a proof party for Jodi Picoult’s forthcoming novel, By Any Other Name, at this year’s Hay Festival. I have to admit that I’ve not read anything by Picoult before, and while I understand that this may be a little different to her previous novels, I would happily read more of her work based on the strength of her writing alone.
I’ve long been fascinated by the question of Shakespeare authorship, although I don’t have a strong view either way – I feel that I don’t know enough to contribute to the discussion. For me, the fascination comes from the persistence of the question. It seems that it should have been resolved by now, one way or the other. While I’ve heard various names mentioned as alternative contributors to the Shakespearean canon, Emilia Bassano is not a name that I was previously familiar with. England’s first published female poet – and I think that we should all know her name for that reason if no other – Picoult makes a convincing argument for her as a potential author of some, not all, of the plays attributed to Shakespeare. I don’t want to rehash those arguments here, but there are so many details that make sense in relation to Bassano and her life that are somewhat inexplicable when considering Shakespeare in contrast. It’s absolutely fascinating and quite compelling.
Whatever your views on that question, the novel is well worth reading irrespective of it. Alternating between two timelines, the reader is initially transported to sixteenth century England where we meet a young Emilia Bassano. She immediately comes across as an imaginative child, and her striking appearance soon attracts attention. Without consultation and with no input into the matter, she is effectively sold as a courtesan to the Lord Chamberlain. While not what she would have chosen, she finds that she has more freedom in that role than she might as a wife, and she is at least valued for her mind amongst other things – he genuinely seems to respect all aspects of her.
It’s during this time that she begins to write in earnest, although she initially sees no way of putting her work out in public, it simply not being the done thing, despite the relevant protection she has as the Lord Chamberlain’s mistress. Her friend, and a character that I absolutely adored, Christopher (Kit) Marlowe, provides a solution in allowing actor, William Shakespeare, to claim her plays as his own for a share of the profit. Picoult’s Shakespeare is a vainglorious man with the desire to write but not the skill, thus resulting in an ideal partnership, although Shakespeare does, of course, get more benefit from that deal than Bassano ever will.
Picoult’s Bassano is an absolutely brilliant character, and it’s wonderful to see this little-known historical figure brought so vividly to life. Picoult successfully captures what it was to be a woman at the time, the frustration at being treated as a pawn in someone else’s game, and the unfairness of the restrictions placed upon them. It’s as accurate and infuriating as you’d expect. Perhaps contrary to expectations, Emilia does find love in her life, but not with her “benefactor”. They can’t be together, despite his somewhat naïve declarations to the contrary, and there’s an element of tragedy about Emilia’s life that inspires those infamous star-crossed lovers, although to say more would descend into spoiler territory.
The present-day narrative sees Melina Green, a descendant of Bassano, trying to break into the male-dominated world of Broadway. When her friend, Andre, submits her play about Bassano to a competition under a gender-ambiguous name, something of a comedy of errors ensues as she convinces Andre to take the role of playwright, and she his assistant, to take advantage of the momentum. It’s intended to be temporary, and yet soon spirals out of control as she finds that she can’t admit the truth. While this aspect of the narrative is briefer, it successfully highlights the ways in which things have changed since Elizabethan times, and the ways in which some things haven’t moved on very much at all as Broadway in particular seems to have remained pale, male, and stale.
I’m a huge advocate of giving credit where it’s due, and while I understand why Bassano may have felt the need to get her plays out in front of an audience whilst fearing the repercussions of having her own name attached to them, it’s incredibly infuriating, particularly as the Shakespeare we see here is such an ordinary and uninspiring individual. By Any Other Name tackles the importance of acknowledgment through both storylines in different ways, emphasising that having your work out there is great, but that no one else should be able to take the credit for it.
By Any Other Name is an absolutely fantastic novel. There are Shakespearean references dotted throughout the text as little easter eggs for readers, and I think that it’s a really nice touch that these have been summarised at the end of the novel for the reader to see how many they spotted. It’s a novel that I loved and I feel sure that it will appear on my books of the year come December. It’s one that I highly recommend whatever your views on Shakespeare and the authorship of the plays accredited to him – it works as a piece of historical fiction exploring the lives of women in Elizabethan England as well as putting the cat among the literary pigeons.
By Any Other Name will be published in the UK on 10 October 2024 by Michael Joseph.
Book 17 of 20 Books of Summer.
