The Lodger cover art

The Lodger

Shakespeare on Silver Street

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Lodger

By: Charles Nicholl
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £19.99

Buy Now for £19.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

In 1612, Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster - providing us with the only surviving record of his spoken words. The case seems routine - a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry - but it opens up an unexpected window into the dramatist's famously obscure life-story.

Charles Nicholl applies a powerful biographical magnifying glass to this fascinating but neglected episode in Shakespeare's life. Drawing evidence from a wide variety of sources, he conjures up a detailed and compelling description of the circumstances in which Shakespeare lived and worked.

This atmospheric exploration of Shakespeare at 40 sees him not from the viewpoint of literary greatness, but in the humdrum and very human context of Silver Street.

©2007 Charles Nicholl (P)2008 Isis Publishing Ltd
Authors Historical Celebrity Shakespeare
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Lady Bette and the Murder of Mr Thynn cover art
My Shakespeare cover art
The Christopher Marlowe BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Mad About Shakespeare cover art
Shakespeare cover art
Who's In, Who's Out cover art
The Great Cat Massacre cover art
Twelfth Night cover art
What Blest Genius cover art
The Winter's Tale cover art
Medieval People cover art
As You Like It cover art
Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World cover art
Shakespeare in London cover art
Something in the Blood cover art
Shakespeare cover art

Critic reviews

"An exercise in literary detection spun out from the only verbatim bit of The Bard we have." (Independent)
"No one does the thrill of the literary paperchase better than Nicholl." (Spectator)
intelligent analysis and intuited possibility makes The Lodger not only the best kind of detective story, but also one of the most rewarding books of the year - Telegraph
"The Lodger gives an eye-opening new portrait of the Bard in London." (Independent)

What listeners say about The Lodger

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable

This was recommended on a podcast I listened to - and I was intrigued. I bought the book which languished on my bookshelf for years. When I saw it on audible I downloaded it - and very glad I did. This is a great book, a very entertaining dive into a very specific time Shakespeare’s life and Jacobean London. Very interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Much more than Shakespeare's life.

Being familiar with the plays but not an academic, I have ummed and ahhed for ages about reading a book on Shakespeare, as there is an overwhelming amount. I took the plunge on this one and have no hesitation in recommending it on to others. The book is as much about the life of London and the people around Shakespeare, as of the man himself. Through intelligent guesswork rather than unfounded speculation Charles Nicholl manages to show how this city and society could have influenced Shakespeare's writing. Springing from a single record of Shakepeare's own words in a court case, it continually blossoms out logically, without being annoyingly contrived, into vivid impressions of London and its inhabitants. It examines aspects such as of the law, homes, trades, fashion and immigrants, taking in the intrigues and detail of high and low life, as well as the world of the theatre. The view reveals itself to be a many sided gem, rather than a snap-shot. Just as Shakespeare's plays are woven with ambiguity, it doesn't matter that The Lodger doesn't give the black and white `truth'. We can never know that. What the book does give is a credible and intriguing idea of what might have been. It is also beautifully read by Gareth Armstrong.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful