Elizabethan Theatre Fiction List

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These were originally posted to my journal, Riba Rambles on February 8 and February 9, 2006;
Last major modification on August 1, 2006;
Last update to book list on August 1, 2006:

I enjoy reading fiction set among Shakespeare and his contemporaries, in the Elizabethan (and Jacobean) theatre community.

So, I've decided to compile a list of such fiction, divided by audience (novels for adults vs. works for children and YA).

These lists exclude direct fictionalized biographies of Shakespeare or other genuine historical figures, because too many of those exist to count.

Fiction for Children and Young Adults

Criteria

The following rules determine a work's qualifications for inclusion:

Work must have been published within my lifetime (1970 or later).
Work must be written for a YA audience or younger.
Must be set (at least in large part) among the London theatre community during Shakespeare's day (within the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I or King James I).
- For now, excluding stories where characters travel widely through time and only spend a chapter among the Elizabethans.
Fictionalized biographies of historical figures are excluded.

I cannot emphasize enough what a boon the existence of boy actors on the Elizabethan stage must be for writers. Kids close to the (intended) readers' age, but in the thick of action, interacting with important people and having major roles to play, both onstage and off.

Common clichés and trends

Considering how apprenticeship separated the boys from their families, it's almost surprising how many authors went the extra step to distance the leads from their parents, often to the extreme of orphaning the kid. [Parentless Protagonist] I wonder how those stats compare to YA fiction in general.

Crossdressing Girls: Shakespeare provided plenty of fodder for crossdressing and genderbending, in case an author prefers one of the major characters to be female.

Time Travel refers to any case where modern characters find themselves in Elizabethan England. It can be intentional or accidental (a la Connecticut Yankee), technological or magic. Again, an easy way to encourage reader-identification, and also makes exposition easier, by having a character who will actually notice things people of the time might take for granted.

And, of course, what's the point of setting a book in the past without a brush with history? Shakespeare Cameos are the most common, since he was the most important figure in the period.

Notice: Some of these attributes may be considered spoilers for major plot developments!

Click the column header to sort:

Title Author Year First Published Grade Level Year Set Cliché 1: Parentless Protagonist Cliché 2: Crossdressing Girl Cliché 3: Time Travel Cliché 4: Shakespeare Cameo Lis has Read?

Master Rosalind John Louis Beatty 1974 n/a ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes

A Murder for Her Majesty Beth Hilgartner 1986 7-9 ? Yes Yes No No Yes

The Shakespeare Stealer Gary L. Blackwood 1998 7-9 1601 Yes No No Yes Yes

King of Shadows Susan Cooper 1999 4-6 1599 Yes No Yes Yes Yes

The Devil and his Boy Anthony Horowitz 2000 7-9 1593 Yes No No Yes No

The Playmaker J. B. Cheaney 2000 7-9 1597 Yes No No Yes Yes

Shakespeare's Scribe Gary L. Blackwood 2000 7-9 1602 Yes No No Yes Yes

A Question of Will Lynne Kositsky 2001 7-9 1595 ? Yes Yes Yes No

Shakespeare and Me Cynthia Mercati 2001 4-6 1599 Yes Yes No Yes No

Isabel: Taking Wing Annie Dalton 2002 4-6 1592 No Yes No No No

Meet Me at the Globe Dalma Takács 2002 7-9 1605 ? ? Yes Yes No

Stage Fright on a Summer Night Mary Pope Osborne 2002 3-4 ? No ? Yes Yes No

The True Prince J. B. Cheaney 2002 7-9 1598 Yes No No Yes No

The Wonderful Winter Marchette Gaylord Chute 2002 4-6 1597 Yes No No Yes No

Shakespeare's Spy Gary L. Blackwood 2003 4-6 1602 Yes No No Yes No

The Boy, the Bear, the Baron, the Bard Gregory Rogers 2004 Preschool ? ? ? Yes Yes No

Time Will Tell Suzanne Bush 2004 n/a 1596 Yes ? Yes Yes No

The Actor, the Rebel, and the Wrinkled Queen Terry Deary 2005 Preschool ? ? No No Yes No

The Black Canary Jane Louise Curry 2005 4-6 1600 No No Yes No Yes

The Secret of the Rose Sarah L. Thomson 2006 n/a 1592 Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Comments about the list

Much of the information on the books' contents (grade level, setting and clichés) are guesswork based on memory (where possible), reviews, and sometimes even Amazon's search-within feature. So for now, you may not want to put too much stock into the metadata I've provided. At least, not until I've had the chance to read more of these (again, in some cases).

Be forewarned that I haven't weeded the list for quality. Several books have reviews which are lukewarm at best.

If you notice any errors or omissions, please leave a comment with corrections.

Fiction for Adult Audiences

I briefly tried compiling a list of adult Elizabethan theatre novels, but that's proving much more difficult. Complications include the sheer number of biographical novels about Shakespeare, and an aversion to duplicationg my Marlowe List.

In short, if you're looking for adult novels about Elizabethan theatre that aren't fictionalized biographies, I can recommend a few series that should keep you going for a while:

Philip Gooden's 6 books starring actor Nick Revill
Simon Hawke's 4-book Shakespeare & Smythe series (a fun romp set during Shakespeare's "Lost Years")
Edward Marston's 15-book series about Nicholas Bracewell and Lord Westfield's Men, which he's been writing since 1989.
A 16th book is due out this August: The Princess of Denmark
Stephanie Cowell's Nicholas Cooke series?

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