THE NOVEL
REVIEWERS HAVE CALLED SHAKESPEARE’S CONSPIRATOR:
“A STUNNING ACHIEVEMENT.”
“A MUST READ ON THE TRUE AUTHORSHIP OF SOME OF SHAKESPEARE’S GREATEST WORK.”
“AN HISTORICAL WHO-WROTE-IT,” “ENTHRALLING,” “LOVINGLY RESEARCHED.“
“A TRIBUTE TO A STRONG AND CREATIVE JEWISH WOMAN.”
HIGHLY RATED BY READERS: As of January, 2022, the average rating for Shakespeare’s Conspirator was 4.7 (out of 5) on Amazon.
EMILIA BASSANO LANYER, SHUNNED BY THEATER OWNERS FOR BEING A WOMAN, SEALS A RISKY PACT WITH YOUNG SHAKESPEARE—BUT EMBEDS A WEB OF CLUES POINTING TO HER AUTHORSHIP.
Delve into a fiery woman’s drive for recognition and justice as she faces grave risks, hostility, and suspicions—while fearing her secret Jewish heritage will be revealed in a world of double standards.
Brimming with intrigue, SHAKESPEARE’S CONSPIRATOR shatters beliefs about the world’s greatest playwright. Did he really write the thirty-seven plays credited to him?
It’s 1587. Shakespeare is struggling to launch his career. Finally he persuades James Burbage, a theater owner, to stage Henry VI. Burbage is one of several proprietors who refused to look at Emilia Bassano’s comedic script. Infuriated after being blocked at every turn, she reluctantly seals a secret pact with Shakespeare. So begins a fiery relationship that triggers suspicions, plots to expose them, and grave dangers.
Craving recognition and ways to break through, Emilia pursues illicit relationships with Elizabethan luminaries while becoming a controversial advocate for women. Scandals and complications follow as her life takes dreadful turns. When Shakespeare pressures her to write a soul-tormenting script, she fears being exposed as a hidden Jew, a felony in Elizabethan England. Undeterred, she embeds hints to her authorship and identity in Shakespeare’s plays. But not everyone is deceived. In this captivating story, the web of secrets and trail of clues reveals a perilous and cloaked Shakespearean world.
Emilia Bassano Lanyer (1569-1645) was the daughter of a Jewish Venetian musician who played in the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Was she Shakespeare’s Conspirator? She was raised and educated from an early age by noblewomen after her father’s death and lived in Venice at a key time. She became the first female poet and fourth woman to be published in England. She titled her “feminist” treatise Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (Latin for “Hail God, King of the Jews). Some scholars believe she wrote many of Shakespeare’s scripts. This research-based novel speculates on why and how she might have. It portrays the dangers she may have endured, the cruel suspicions she may have aroused, and why she never received credit.
