Showing results for "By Any Name" in Literary Fiction

In 1581, Emilia Bassano is allowed no voice of her own. But as the Lord Chamberlain’s mistress she has access to the theatre, and finds a way to bring her work to the stage secretly. And yet, creating some of the world’s greatest dramatic masterpieces comes at a great cost: by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her own out of history. In modern day New York, playwright Melina Green is determined to see one of her shows make the stage. After years of struggle to be recognised she has finally written again, inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor.

While serving in the USO during WWII, Mumma meets Pops. She's got many suitors, but it's Pops who wins her heart. Their road is rocky, though: His family sees his marriage to an orphan as beneath him, and her own dreams of being more than just a wife and mother are jeopardized. But while Mumma never counted on there being challenges at every turn, those turns also never anticipated a force of nature like Mumma.

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.