Dale Tomlinson

A magical book, profoundly moving and insightful. Every layer of the book is just so well imagined and executed. It’s does a wonderful job of characterisation, both from a female perspective, a child’s perspective, and that of the never named Shakespeare himself. I listened to the audible version of this book, and a few times had to sit quietly in the car to recover from some of the saddest passages, always the mark of a great book in my opinion. I can heartily recommend this book to anyone on its own merits, whether you are interested in Shakespeare , the man or the playwright, or not. It works so well on it’s very different levels that I feel everyone will take away something important from it. The best book I have read this year by far. The narration of the Audible version is also absolutely first rate and completely convincing .