Welcome back book clubbers to the sweet-smelling month of September, and what better pick for a review than the intoxicating tale By Any Other Name by author extraordinaire Jodi Picoult?

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Like any theatre nerd, I lunge for a good Shakespeare retelling and Jodi Picoult does not disappoint in a story spanning centuries between the lives of two women whose shared passion to write for the stage is obstructed by the sexist beliefs and attitudes of their times.

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Melina Green, a struggling writer in New York, has been nursing a bruised ego since her first play was publicly decimated 10 years ago in a biased critique. While she’s found little to no success in other areas of writing, Melina can’t silence the muse in a secret project; By Any Other Name, a play about the life of her far-back ancestor Emilia Bassano. Labelled by historians as the “dark lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Emilia was the first published female poet in 1611 when women were forbidden to write for a public audience and just so happened to be connected to the theatre scene as the courtesan for the Lord Chamberlain who was in charge of all theatre in London.

The more Melina searches for Emilia in history records – her background, education, family history, social circles – the more likely it seems that Emilia may actually be the true author behind Shakespeare’s most notable works.

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The plot thickens when Melina’s well-meaning friend and roommate Andre decides to submit By Any Other Name to a fringe festival where it is selected for a staged reading. The setback? The notoriously sexist artistic director in charge thinks Melina is in fact, Mel (as in a boy Mel – Mel Brooks, Mel Gibson, that’s all I know). An mistake easy to correct? Sure. But – TWIST – the critic reviewing the show is none other than the person who humiliated Melina all those years ago which pressures Melina to turn a snap decision into a long-con that can only end badly…

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Heading back a few centuries earlier, Emilia Bassano is in a similar quandary herself. Well-educated in language, music and poetry, she is a woman of intelligence and imagination who is limited to the few options available to her as a woman in the 1600s. Her passion is to write but the only means to see her work onstage is under publication of another name: Shakespeare, a man who Emilia finds to be of little talent and even less integrity. But needs must, and she enters into an agreement that sees her plays enrapture thousands of people who would think nothing capable of her in her person.

In this absorbing dual narrative, we see the whole life Emilia Bassano play out in great tragedy and romance. Her chance meeting with Kit Marlowe, an instant favourite, who equals her as a writer and orchestrates her pact with Shakespeare. Her infatuation and dangerous affair with the Earl of Southampton who inspires her to pen the world’s most famous doomed romance. The years of sickening abuse she endures when sold off, again, to a man as useless a ‘provider’ as he is cruel. And the horrors of the plague ripping through London twice where the poorer classes are forced to endure the worst of it. Despite all this, Emilia is a resilient survivor, driven by the love she has for her son, and knowledge that she has more value than what society tells her.

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Although set apart by vastly different circumstances, the compelling similarities of Melina and Emilia are cleverly drawn to show the talent, courage and humour of both women trying to achieve in an industry working against them. Jodi Picoult doesn’t shy away from pointing out how modern-day theatre is still dominated by a narrow perspective and why there is so much debate as to who the real Shakespeare was.

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Die-hard Shakespeare fans will also enjoy the origin stories of many plays within this novel and multiple references to all the favourites; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night (obviously), Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet and The Tempest.

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I’ve been a steadfast reader of Jodi Picoult and I can honestly say that By Any Other Name is now my #1 of her repertoire.

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SIMILAR TITLES

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Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

A riveting novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here and the bestselling author of She’s Not There.

‘One of the best books of the year.’ POP SUGAR

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Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

In the breathtaking beauty of the Galapagos Islands, Diana will learn who she really is, and the person she wants to become, in Jodi’s deeply moving novel about the resilience of the human spirit.

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The Last Hours by Minette Walters

For most, the Black Death is the end. For a brave few, it heralds a new beginning.

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The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters

For all those who love Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, and Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders comes the worldwide-bestselling Minette Walters’ compelling and fascinating historical novel of the Plague years.

‘If you enjoy C.J. Sansom or Philippa Gregory, pick up this masterfully woven tale.’ Better Reading

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Lightborne by Hesse Phillips

‘Vivid, punchy’ SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

A stunning debut on queer love, betrayal and survival in the Elizabethan Age from a vital new voice in historical fiction.