By Any Other Name - Jodi Picoult

 By Any Other Name - Jodi Picoult

Pub. Date: Aug. 20, 2024

She read

There has always been suspicion that Shakespeare was not the author of the works attributed to him and through the years there has been “evidence" presented to support this view.

By Any Other Name tells the fictional story of two women, separated by centuries, but related (distantly) by blood and also by the obstacles they face as women in the literary world. In the 1500s, Emilia Bassano is a talented writer. Yet, as a woman,  she cannot present any of her work just as she has no independence of her own first as the mistress of a titled older man and later as the property of her husband. And so, she must sell her works to Shakespeare so that they can be seen and heard under his name.

In present day, Melina Green, has written a play about Bassano that she knows will be dismissed in the chauvinistic world of theater. When her work is mistaken to be the product of her best friend, Andre, a gay black man, the charade backfires. 

This book will not be for everyone. It is long (544 pages), it goes back and forth between the two timelines, and has violence against women.  In fact, it took me a while to realize I really, really liked the story. The writing is literate, powerful, emotional, thought provoking. As is typical with a Picoult novel, it is well researched and educational. It is gut wrenching to read of the position of women in the 1500s; dispiriting to think about the prejudice that still exists today…not only toward women, but other marginalized people as well. The story also gave me a lot to think about that is happening today politically as it relates to history, especially the control the Puritans tried to enforce over society in the 1500s. 

Thanks to #NetGalley and @RandomHouse #BallantineBooks for the DRC.