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1585: What if Shakespeare fled Stratford after one failed love affair too many and heads to London and then Venice, the setting of many of his plays?
The Spy of Venice
What you need to know before your trail
Young William Shakespeare flees Stratford after one affair too many. He heads to London where he hopes to seek his fortune but finds himself in a fix much more complex than those of his own characters. All alone in the capital, he falls in with a band of players – but before long, he finds himself mixed up with those who send him to Venice on a crucial mission.
Dazzled by the city’s masques – and its beauties – Will little realises the peril in which he finds himself. Catholic assassins would stop at nothing to end his mission on the point of their sharpened knives, and lurking in the shadows is a killer as clever as he is cruel.
Travel Guide
Stratford – Shakespeare Country
Shakespeare’s home and the place most associated with his life and works. The main attraction here should be Shakespeare’s Birthplace
London
London seems to be a den of vice and squalor when Shakespeare flees there. He’s quickly taken in with a band of players and is taken to a bear pit of all places on the south side of the river, in Paris Garden. Of course just along the waters now is The Globe Theatre. London seems to be another pit – of violence and political intrigue – there is mention of the Tudors and the fate of Anne Boleyn which takes place 50 years before the action in the book. Francis Walsingham was the spymaster of his day and helps to explain the political secrecy in England – “We are David before the Spanish Goliath” When Shakespeare fails to understand the political upheavals across the country and in Europe, he’s called a “Country boob”
Venice
The Queen is sending the Ambassador, Sir Henry Carr, along with a group of players to Venice. “Venice the Wise, Venice the Just, Venice the Rich” “Trapped between the Turk and France. A liminal Place, eh….a Place of Borders and opportunities, of doors opening and others shutting”
This is an exciting place to be in 1585 – William Shakespeare arrives on a gondola to the Pizzetta di San Marco, the public square outside the Basilica. He is taken on a mini tour of its architecture and is told that the horses above the basilica signify the West trampling on the Italians. There is to be no peace between England and Italy until the horse are bridled apparently.
The White Hotel is referred to a lot in the story – White Lion Hotel/Locanda Leon Bianco– Now a hotel this was the seat of the “Albergo del Leon Bianco” (White Lion Hotel), the most famous in Venice
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Was Shakespeare the man we see in the portraits and drawings or is he the James Bond, James Bourne character in this book? He’s also somewhat of a comedian – ‘My youth hath faulty wandered’ he announces in chapter one. True Shakespeare was a funny man I found during A levels, even if it did take me a while to grasp some of his jokes, but here, he even does a happy dance in the first chapter so I immediately warmed to him and realised this was not exactly going to be the Shakespeare I’d met way back when!
There’s a lot of similarities too though – mainly references to the many plays and characters to keep things firmly Shakespearian and this I found a very clever tacticWilliam’s friend Oldcastle appears to be Falstaff and Iago, the arch villain from Othello, also makes a thinly veiled appearance.
If you look at this book and are reminded of tricky childhood days at school, don’t be – this could well be the book to make things right, to showcase a fictional world mixed with a misunderstood literary one with the big bow of adventure tying them both together.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Spy of Venice
Author/Guide: Benet Brandreth Destination: Stratford upon Avon, Venice, London Departure Time: 1585
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