Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Nye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

It is April 1594. Will Shakespeare, budding poet and playwright, invites his estranged wife to come to London to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. Seven years after his death, Anne Hathaway reminisces about her now-famous husband, recalling in particular that unforgettable week and what happened to her in a certain bed in his lodgings above a fishmonger's shop-an enormous four-poster that the playwright called their "private playhouse." By turns thoughtful and bawdy, Mrs. Shakespeare's tale offers insight into Will's secret lives, including the mystery of the second-best bed that he bequeathed her, as well as the question that has intrigued scholars and readers for centuries: to hom and for whom were the "Dark Sonnets" written?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

English poet and novelist Nye's slim fiction is so charmingly written, one hardly minds that in the end the plot boils down to a literary dirty joke. Seven years after William Shakespeare's death, in an anachronistically feminist move for 1622, Susanna Shakespeare gives her widowed mother a vellum blank book, and in it Anne decides to write "My story. His story. Our story. The story of the poet, the wife, the best bed, and the bed called second-best." In doing so she solves several literary mysteries: what was the second-best bed, mentioned in Shakespeare's will? and who was the Dark Lady of the Sonnets? The first half of the book seems much ado about nothing as Anne rambles on about the difficulties of being married to a poet. As she writes, she sets the scene for her dramatic trip to visit William on his 30th birthday in London, where he has been living while she struggles to raise their children in Stratford. Anne loves her misguided romantic of a husband, although she can't understand what motivates him, commenting, "I have not read his works. I read my Bible." When Nye, author of the Hawthorndon Prize- and the Guardian Fiction Prize-winning Falstaff, finally reveals the dramatic secret of the bedDnamely who gave it to William, why and what actions have taken place in itDthe marital romp that ensues illustrates Nye's amusing theory that Shakespeare tested the plots of his plays in flagrante delicto. Nye's light tone and whimsical touches (Anne shares a couple of truly disgusting-sounding 16th-century recipes) buoy up this tartly ribald romantic comedy, a graceful literary fantasia. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The Late Mr. Shakespeare (1999), which told Shakespeare's life from the vantage of a former boy actor in the bard's troupe, was brilliant, a tour de force. Part Laurence Sterne, part Tom Stoppard, packed with jokes, puns, eccentric stories, and iconoclastic revelations, the novel delighted on every page. Mrs. Shakespeare , Nye's second act, so to speak, is amusing but less awe inspiring. It, too, recalls Tom Stoppard--the toned-down Stoppard responsible for Shakespeare in Love . In some ways, in fact, Mrs. Shakespeare is Shakespeare in Love as told by the slightly baffled, forgotten wife. For this time it is through the eyes of Anne Hathaway that we see the slow-paced, country home Shakespeare left behind in Stratford, the wild new world he joined when he went to London to find his fortune, and many aspects of his domestic life--his early marriage, his drunken father, his children. As for laughs, Anne's revelations that the greatest poet of the English language had feet of clay lead to most of the biggest. Jack Helbig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142000043
• ISBN-13: 978-0142000045
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,321,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare as "never before"!, February 22, 2001

By 

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Hardcover)

Ah--a clever, clever book, indeed! Robert Nye's "Mrs. Shakespeare" is just that. In this very readable, witty, and enjoyable book, Nye's "central character" (Anne Hathaway) reveals to us the "real" William Shakespeare! Written some seven years after the Bard's death, the book draws heavily upon heretofore "unpublished" comments/thoughts/reactions by his widow. No matter.

Remember, this is fiction. And while we are not comparing Nye's work "to a summer's day," it is magical in its intent. Nye is quite the scholar, although that seems disguised as he flippantly carries us through Anne's memoirs ("the only happily married couple in all my husband's works are called Macbeth"). Of course, as "Shakespearean gospel," there will be the critics and non-believers. Again, no matter. It's fiction. So a little (well, all right, a lot) of leeway should be granted. Regardless of your devotion (or not) to Shakespeare, this take is still a good one to read. That's not to say it isn't intellectually challenging, and perhaps the more you know about Shakespeare, the more you are likely to catch all the allusions tossed--sometimes willy-nilly-at the reader! ([e-mail])

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Intriguing, November 14, 2002

By 

Jennifer Smith (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is factually based and yet entertaining at the same time. Mrs. Shakespeare has a way of storytelling that the Bard himself would envy. Not only does she present facts about their life together, she presents them in a way that relates to all people. Who hasn't felt jealousy when their spouse puts work above them? Who isn't angry when they lose a child and have no one to talk to about it? This book is not so much a story of William Shakespeare, but a story of how his wife sees him. Robert Nye does an excellent job of letting us see the other side. We hear about Mr. Shakespeare from his wife, the woman who knows him best. The woman least likely to sugar coat it. We learn about his life in London, who the sonnets were really written for, and the mystery of the second best bed. This book is entertaining and intriguing. I recommend this book to people not only interested in Shakespeare's life, but also interested in thinking about their own life in a new way.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Things Are Better Left to the Imagination, May 20, 2005

By 

book worm (library bookstacks) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Hardcover)

This book was a little bit Too Much Information. I'm not exactly interested in Shakespeare's sex life.... I'm really wanting to give it 3 stars, except that OK, it could explain some things about Shakepeare and perhaps his writing.

I did enjoy reading from Mrs. Shakespeare's point of view, as Robert Nye presents it in his book. It was funny and clever, as well as a fresh breath of air. I could see why perhaps London was not to her liking... It was interesting to gain a different perspective on Shakepseare through her eyes and on daily and family life in Stratford.

An OK book that reads pretty quickly.