By Any Other Name

Jodi Picoult does have a knack for writing thought-provoking and wonderfully written books. She delivered again with By Any Other Name! This book is about two women living in different times (1500’s & the present) who are creative, love writing, and have created works that they want known.

1500’s – Melina Green is forced into becoming the mistress for Lord Chamberlain, who oversees the theaters in England. She is gifted, strong, witty, artistic, a musician and a gifted writer. Unfortunately, she lives in a time where women have no voice and no opportunities for showing off their skills. So, she must turn to an actor to use his name to make her mark.

Present day – Melina Green is a playwright who has written about the life of her ancestor, Emilia Bassano. When she turns in her work under the name Mel and finds herself having to pretend that a man wrote her work.

There have been rumors and speculation that William Shakespeare did not write his own plays. In By Any Other Name, Jodi Picoult takes this theory on having Emilia Bassano being the writer of the plays. It is obvious that Picoult did a tremendous amount of research prior to writing this book.

This book is told through the POV of both women. I enjoyed how Picoult showed the struggles of both women, their desire to have their work known, the obstacles that they came up against, the misogyny, and their drive. Picoult did a wonderful job of transporting me back in time. Having said that, this book is long and at times, I felt it’s length.

This book made me wonder if Shakespeare really did write his plays. Who knows, I still love the ones I have read and seen performed.

Despite its length, I enjoyed this impressively researched and written book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.