Mr. Shakespeare's Bastard by Richard B. Wright

In a quiet manor house in Oxfordshire, an ailing housekeeper by the name of Aerlene Ward feels the time has come to confess the great secret that has shaped her life-she is the illegitimate daughter of William Shakespeare, England′s most famous playwright.

With a brilliant eye and ear for this rich period of history, Richard B. Wright brings to life the teeming streets of Elizabethan London and the seasonal rhythms of rural life in Oliver Cromwell′s England as he interweaves the intriguing stories of the lovely Elizabeth, who allows herself to be seduced by a struggling young writer from Stratford, and her plain but clever daughter, who must live with the consequences.

As their lives unfold, secrets are revealed, love is found and lost, and futures are forever changed. Readers will be fascinated by glimpses of the young Will as an actor with the Queen′s Men and, fifteen years later, as a world-weary but increasingly wealthy playwright -- who may have had an unexpected daughter.

An engaging blend of invention and historical detail, and echoing the unmistakable style of the Bard himself, MR. SHAKESPEARE′S BASTARD confirms Wright as one of our finest storytellers. This unforgettable novel will delight the senses and touch the heart.

When the Giller long-list was announced this year I was shocked that Room by Emma Donoghue wasn't on it. I was hoping it would be because she has been writing for a long time and seems to get more recognition elsewhere than she does in Canada! Then, I saw no Richard Wright on the list. As someone who loves Richard Wright's books, I was shocked he didn't make even the long-list this year. Everyone should run out and get a copy of Clara Callan. It was the first book I read by him and I loved it! Now when he has a new book out I get excited and rush out and get a copy. He has never been able to top Clara Callan for me, but he is still an amazing Canadian author who I love everything by.

I was a bit surprised by the topic of his latest book. A book about Shakespeare? Very different from the other books I have read by him! I have to admit I haven't read all of his backlist yet, but I still think if I had I would be surprised by this book. I appreciate Shakespeare, don't get me wrong, but I think he is way overdone... In university there were courses dedicated to him, but to no one else. Is he really the greatest writer of all time, or is it more the mystery and conspiracy theories that surround him? Then, there are all the non-fiction and fiction books centred around him. I will read a couple here and there, but generally I stay away. If this wasn't written by an author I respect, I probably would have glanced at it and decided it was not a priority read. But, it is Wright's book and I read it at the first opportunity.

This was a good book. It is considered fact that Shakespeare was not in a happy marriage, right? He only left his wife a bed. So, it stands to reason that if he wasn't very happy in his marriage he had plenty of mistresses and as a result of that there were probably bastards. This book imagines what it would be life for a child of Shakespeare's that was not acknowledged. Aerlene is nearing the end of her life and has decided that she wants to tell her story. She gets the daughter of the house that she helped raise to copy down her lines and reveals that she is Shakespeare's daughter. She has never spoke of it before because she fears being ridiculed, but knowing that she is likely not long for this earth she wants people to know.

The novel starts by telling about her mother. Her mother was a bit risque for the time period. She married a man that died soon afterwards, had an affair with a man that was unable to speak, and then was sent to London to ride out the scandal. While there she meets Will Shakespeare while he was still an apprentice. Over the course of a few weeks they have an affair, but it all ends when she becomes pregnant with his child and the people she is living with decide they don't want anymore to do with her. She returns to her small town to live with her brother and his wife. There she raises Aerlene, but she dies young and leaves her to her brother to decide her future. After a bit of drama, Aerlene is also sent to London where she has the chance to meet her father. With the exception of the courtship, of sorts, and this brief meeting, Shakespeare is more a ghost to the pages than an actual character. Aerlene's mother did not know that he was a playwright until she finds a copy of one of his plays by chance. That's the night that she tells Aerlene who her father is, though.

I am not even sure if this is a spoiler-filled review. The story of Shakespeare is well-known. Wright just imagines a bit more of his life. This could even be very close to true, we will never really know. One thing that keeps getting brought up is how people are able to read and write and how surprising that is. That's one of Shakespeare's problems; people don't think it was possible that someone with his upbringing would be able to write. I like to think that anything is possible, but maybe I am too optimistic.

This was another good book by Wright. It wasn't the same as other books I have read by him, but he still made England come alive, created believable characters, and wrote a story that made me want to continue reading. If you like Shakespearean fan fiction, this is a good one for you. If you enjoy books set in Elizabethan England, this is also another one for you.

Giller-a-thon: Book Number 2: October by Richard B. Wright

Completion Date: September 20, 2007
Pages: 240
Publication Year: 2007 (Harper Collins)
Received in 2007 from Harper Collins

Reason for Reading: Another book in my attempt to read as many of the Giller-nominated books by the time the short list is announced on October 9th. I don't think I will get as many read as I had hoped, but I am aiming for ten out of the fifteen.

A new novel that Richard B. Wright's Clara Callan fans will adore, October effortlessly weaves a haunting coming-of-age story set in World War II Quebec with a contemporary portrait of a man still searching for answers in the autumn of his life.

In England to see his daughter, Susan, who is gravely ill, James Hillyer, a retired professor of Victorian literature, encounters by chance a man he once knew as a boy. Gabriel Fontaine, a rich and attractive American he met one summer during the war, when he was sent on a holiday to the Gaspé, is a mercurial figure, badly crippled by polio. As an adolescent, James was both attracted to and repelled by Gabriel's cocksure attitude and charm. He also fell hopelessly in love with Odette, a French- Canadian girl from the village, only to find himself in competition with the careless Gabriel. Now, at this random meeting over six decades later - as he struggles with the terrible possibility that he could outlive his own daughter - James is asked by Gabriel to accompany him on a final, unthinkable journey. At last, James begins to see that all beginnings and endings are inexorably linked.

A classic Richard B. Wright novel, defined by superb storytelling, subtle, spare writing and characters who travel psychological territory as familiar - and uncharted - as our own, October is an extraordinary meditation on mortality, childhood and memory.

I find it a bit interesting that the marketing for this book is saying that this is a book that Clara Callan fans will adore, or something along those lines. I am not saying that I do not like this book, I just liked Clara Callan way better. I think that is my problem with Wright, since he won the Giller and Governor General's Award for Clara Callan, none of his other books have been anywhere near as good. This book is better than others, but I am still waiting for him to rise above Clara Callan. That being said, I did like this book, just that if you are going to compare it to his previous Giller-nominated book that he went on to win for, I have to say it is found lacking.

This is a novel about an older man living out he last few years of his life. The book all takes place predominately in October, but there are flashback scenes to a summer when he is 14-years-old. In this October he receives a phone call from his middle-aged daughter with very bad news, setting in motion all the events that happen during the course of this book. His wife died in her 50's from cancer, and now it looks like his daughter is battling the same thing. When he goes to England to visit her, where she is a headmistress at a boarding school, he encounters memories from his past. All this happens because after he leaves his daughter, he decides to stop off in another England town that is very fond of and he runs into a man that he has not seen in 60 years.

Seeing this man for the first time in all those years leads him to think back to the summer where they met for the very first time. They have not seen each other since, but his friend is still very obviously him. He had polio as a child and is cooped up in a wheelchair, this has made a very cranky, proud, and self-centred individual. During the course of the book we learn what he was like then, but also get a taste of what he is like now. They meet under strange circumstances, and go on to travel to Switzerland together for even stranger ones. This book deals with a few moral issues, and not everyone that reads it will agree with what occurs.

Overall, not a bad book, but I liked Michael Ondaatje's book better. It is probably comparable with Helpless, though, a good book, but not as good as some of the books that have come before from the same author. Of course, the Giller's are not based on passed books, but I cannot help thinking of them like that. Even if I did not compare them to other attempts, I think that Ondaatje's the best so far. Next up is The Book of Negroes because I am waiting for the others to arrive in the mail. I was hoping for some today to read over the weekend, but looks like I am waiting for Monday.