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Shakespeare - The Biography: Vol I
Shakespeare - The Biography: Vol I
Jul 9, 2025 11:14 AM

Author:Peter Ackroyd,Simon Callow

Shakespeare - The Biography: Vol I

VOL. 1: ASPIRING SPIRIT.

From Stratford to London.

(Birth, 1564 - c.1590)

Peter Ackroyd's insightful new biography positions Shakespeare in the close context of his world. In this way, Ackroyd not only richly conjures up the texture of Shakespeare's life, but also imparts an amazing amount of vivid, interesting material about place, period and background. Walk with Ackroyd through sixteenth century London and Stratford as he uncovers the intimate circumstances of Shakespeare's life. Discover the theatrical world in which Shakespeare had his being - not just Shakespeare the actor but the other actors, playwrights, and managers that surrounded him. And journey to Stratford to meet Shakespeare the family man, whose private life had such an impact on his work that the strongest bond in his plays is always between father and daughter.

Reviews

The words crackle and fizz - a dazzling evocation of the Jazz Age... Magical and marvellous

—— Independent on Sunday

A virtuoso of the sentence...Doyle wonderfully recreates a world of flophouses and speakeasies, flappers and bootleggers

—— Guardian

Doyle's performance is, again, extraordinary for the richness of allusion, the facility with which history is dovetailed with invention, the energy of the prose

—— Daily Telegraph

Brilliantly imagined... Utterly magnificent, the finest work he has done

—— Sunday Tribune

Kicks off at a furious lick and just gets faster, hotter, louder. Hugely, unremittingly entertaining

—— Scotsman

Sequels often disappoint, but here is one that's every bit as sharp, as surprising and as satisfying as the original

—— Guardian

An exciting, fast-moving narrative

—— Times Literary Supplement

'A rich fantasia, peopled by painfully real characters. Fit to bursting with flights of speculation that could fuel the careers of many lesser writers'

—— Kirkus Reviews

An easy, feel-good read

—— Closer

A richly rewarding read

—— Eve

The best romantic comedy we've read in ages

—— Company

Tackles serious issues with humour - proving that chick-lit can be intelligent, interesting and huge fun

—— Sunday Express

A triumph

—— Hello

Top marks. Fantastic

—— Heat

Lovely

—— Daily Telegraph

Moving and intelligent

—— Independent

Magnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners

—— Cosmopolitan

Fans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into

—— Sunday Telegraph
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