Shakespeare's Daughter [Library Binding]

Peter W. Hassinger (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Susanna Shakespeare finds the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon much too quiet and provincial. She yearns to travel to London to see her father's world of players and poets, and to follow a secret dream of her own. Once Susanna arrives in London, nothing is quite as she expected it to be -- least of all her relationship with her famous father. But propelled by her love for Thomas Cole, a Catholic chorister, and her desire to sing, Susanna discovers that it is only with the support of those who love her that she has the strength to succeed.

Screenwriter Peter W. Hassinger creates a Shakespearean tale rife with imagery and beauty that pays homage to the Bard himself.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-Susanna Shakespeare has problems. The 14-year-old singer can never join a choir in England because she's a girl. Stuck in Stratford with her prim mother and younger twin siblings, she misses her father. A rising playwright, he hardly ever comes home from London. Motivated by the sudden death of her brother Hamnet, Susanna runs away, planning to join her father in the city. However, she takes the wrong road and narrowly escapes rape. Anyone who took "Shakespeare 101" will immediately recognize Susanna's rescuer, Emilia, a pistol-packing dark lady in a carriage, as the object of a famous sonnet sequence. This Dark Lady eventually sees that Susanna is delivered to her father's doorstep in London, but not before revealing that she and Will Shakespeare were once lovers. Meanwhile, handsome Thomas Cole, a brilliant singer, successful chorister, and dangerously secret Catholic, keeps turning up to exchange burning glances and increasingly passionate kisses with Susanna. Can Susanna find friendship with Emilia yet remain loyal to her mother? Can she have it all: a singing career and a devoted husband? Can Thomas escape the clutches of the Queen's secret agent? In spite of his too obvious research into early music and Shakespeare's life and times, Hassinger has created people who speak and behave like characters in a modern soap opera. Implausible plotting and clichéd writing further weaken the story. Stick with Susan Cooper's King of Shadows (McElderry, 1999), which brings emotional truth and historical veracity to a story set in Elizabethan time.-Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-12. Susan Cooper's King of Shadows (1999) and J. B. Cheaney's The Playmaker (2000) imagined Shakespeare at work. This absorbing story about Shakespeare's eldest daughter presents the playwright in a new role--Shakespeare as dad. Fourteen-year-old Susanna Shakespeare is a passionate singer, but society leaves few options for female "choristers." Determined to pursue music, Susanna flees the home to join her father in London. An epic story unfolds, in which Susanna discovers the thrill of performance, her first crush, and her father's infidelity as she unwittingly becomes involved in a dangerous political plot. The story relies on far-fetched coincidences, and Hassinger's rich prose, sprinkled with Elizabethan one-liners, includes some exalted descriptions of music as well as the complicated religious and political intrigue, which may slow some readers. But this involving mystery offers fascinating insight into women's realities in Shakespeare's time, and many readers will recognize Susanna's struggles to reconcile family secrets and her father's betrayals. With an assortment of historical figures making appearances, an author's note separating fact and fiction would have been welcome. Gillian Engberg
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

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060284684
• ISBN-13: 978-0060284688
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,014,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Renaissance

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise for Mr. Hassinger-, July 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare's Daughter (Hardcover)

I was not, not by a long shot, bored or confused at any point in this book. Everything came across clear with a high point of interest. Any moments that could possibly be classified as clich? were, in your book, like reading something that had never been introduced before. Brilliance in its purest and most enjoyable form. Each character, coupled with Mr. Hassinger's deeper understanding of their minds, was like frosting on the cake. Indeed, though he had only been in the book a scant few pages, I shed a tear for poor Hamnet. Of course, all my friends thought I was batty, but they have yet to indulge in the novel. Even the bard himself brought forth a new image that I might not have imagined for such as himself- the image of a father. Besides this, he wrote everything. Nothing, no emotion nor suspicion, went edited for the uncommon uses, such as older men looking at Susanna, and Will's (may I call him Will?) parental protection kicking in. It brings a reality to the time period that I've never sensed in other books revolving around the same era.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise for Mr. Hassinger-, June 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare's Daughter (Hardcover)

I was not, not by a long shot, bored or confused at any point in this book. Everything came across clear with a high point of interest. Each character, coupled with Mr. Hassinger¡¯s deeper understanding of their minds, was like frosting on the cake. Indeed, though he had only been in the book a scant few pages, I shed a tear for poor Hamnet. Of course, all my friends thought I was batty, but they have yet to indulge in the novel. Even the bard himself brought forth a new image that I might not have imagined for such as himself- the image of a father. Besides this, he wrote everything. Nothing, no emotion nor suspicion, went edited for the uncommon uses, such as older men looking at Susanna, and Will¡¯s (may I call him Will?) parental protection kicking in. It brings a reality to the time period that I¡¯ve never sensed in other books revolving around the same era.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare's Daughter, September 26, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Shakespeare's Daughter (Hardcover)

I liked this book, but it wasn't like the best book ever. It was interesting to learn about Shakespeare's life, other then his plays. Susanna, the main charater, is a singer, and the book is mostly about her trying to get a job, and her realationship with her father. It leaves you hanging, and there is no big climax really.