Historical Fiction is a genre that seems notoriously difficult to get right but from this small sample of Benet Brandeth's second Shakespeare novel I have to say he seems to have got it right.
The dialogue is exquisite with the sharpened rapier of William's tongue cuting to the very soul of those who would oppose him and, more importantly, his beloved Isabella. Whilst not a comedy I did find myself raising a smile at:
‘I am not born of the city, true, but I know its mood better than you do,
peacock. And if a cuckoo, then all I have done is push out a basilisk egg
that, left untouched, would have devoured the whole brood.’
Already you feel you have a handle on the character of this fictionalised Shakespeare that basks in the delights of Elizabethan intrigue and is maybe a little foolhardy in his expressions of distaste.
The political supremacy of the papacy at this time is also being dealt with and the Pope is certainly not shown as a man of love and compassion. Which, to be entirely fair, as this is the time of the Medici popes is more than accurate.
Wonderful start to what appears to be an intriguing novel and I may have to look out the first book now to satisfy my curiosity before this one is published.
The dialogue is exquisite with the sharpened rapier of William's tongue cuting to the very soul of those who would oppose him and, more importantly, his beloved Isabella. Whilst not a comedy I did find myself raising a smile at:
‘I am not born of the city, true, but I know its mood better than you do,
peacock. And if a cuckoo, then all I have done is push out a basilisk egg
that, left untouched, would have devoured the whole brood.’
Already you feel you have a handle on the character of this fictionalised Shakespeare that basks in the delights of Elizabethan intrigue and is maybe a little foolhardy in his expressions of distaste.
The political supremacy of the papacy at this time is also being dealt with and the Pope is certainly not shown as a man of love and compassion. Which, to be entirely fair, as this is the time of the Medici popes is more than accurate.
Wonderful start to what appears to be an intriguing novel and I may have to look out the first book now to satisfy my curiosity before this one is published.