Well written ( )

It's fictitious, but is well researched. Fun to imagine other possibilities for Shakespeare's life, all within the context of his real life. ( )

This is a historical work of fiction about William Shakespeare's *other* Anne, based on an actual note in the official documented records, showing that the day before Shakespeare was to marry the pregnant Anne Hathaway, he filed for a marriage certificate (a *bond*) to Anne Whateley of Temple Grafton. Author Karen Harper uses this as her jumping off point to recreate the story, told in Whateley's voice, of her life as Shakespeare's muse. This is more than just a romantic novel, though. The story is filled with historical information, facts, details about life in those years: the politics of Elizabethan England, the conditions of daily living, the dread and devastation of the Plague, all interspersed with documented and known facts about Shakespeare's life, how and when he wrote his plays, etc. There are, of course, quotes from the plays and sonnets and much alluding to Whateley as his muse, his *Dark Lady*. I really did enjoy this book.

If I have one bone to pick, though, it is with the cover. Right from the beginning of the book, and mentioned several times throughout, was the fact that Anne Whateley is dark-haired, dark-complexioned. In fact, that is a significant piece of the story. Yet the cover shows a red-head, fair-skinned woman. Rather incongruous, I think. Who decides these things anyhow? ( )

A good idea, but an amateur execution with flat characters and a good sprinkling of unintentional humour. Not recommended. ( )

The so-called Dark lady of the Sonnets has inspired a host of books about the putative identity of the beauty who served as Shakespeare’s poetic muse, of which Karen Harper’s book is the latest, and the slightest.

Written English of the late 16th Century was pretty informal and completely inconsistent regarding spelling: within the space of two days and in the same district, two marriage licenses were issued, one to William Shaxpere and Anne Whateley, and the other to William Shagpere and Anne Hathway [sic]. Was it the same William, and did he marry twice in quick succession?

The story is based on the premise that the bard married his true love, the half Italian Anne Whateley, before being railroaded into a shotgun marriage with the pregnant and much older Anne Hathaway the following day: while Hathaway stayed in Stratford raising his children and generally nagging, Whateley moved to London where she ran a business and was a keen theatre-goer.

When Shakespeare eventually joins her in London they resume their affair, he becomes a successful playwright and she continues to inspire and promote him though all the ups and downs of his apparently tumultuous life. All of which is okay, as far as it goes.

But why she portrays Shakespeare as a recusant hostile to the Tudor monarchy and insanely jealous to boot is not clear; and while one does not want the novel written in actual Elizabethan English, modern slang and grammatical sloppiness is unacceptably jarring.

If you enjoy a soppy romance which is easy to read and features lots of well-known historical names, this should be right up your ally, but if you like your history authentic, your language pure and your characters plausible, don’t bother. ( )