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In the Shadow of Shakespeare
Teacher by day playwright by night, Alice Petrovka is pushed to her limits. But something is conspiring to push her further...possibly over the edge. The past begins to impose itself on the present as a famous Renaissance playwright demands to be heard. And seen. Alice's psychologist husband is convinced she is losing her sanity when she tells him of these strange occurrences.
As Alice desperately tries to balance the toxic cocktail of the past mixing with the present, she is thrown backward in time to Elizabethan England where she delves into a world of spies and playmakers. A world where theatre and espionage blend together in an impenetrable mix of plots and counterplots.
As Alice tries to understand the complicated romance she finds herself in, she learns that history is not what she once thought it was.
Once propelled back into the present she struggles to find evidence to support the truth of what she knows and finds herself in deep peril. Someone is guarding the past from investigation and will stop at nothing to thwart her efforts. Including murder.
As Alice desperately tries to balance the toxic cocktail of the past mixing with the present, she is thrown backward in time to Elizabethan England where she delves into a world of spies and playmakers. A world where theatre and espionage blend together in an impenetrable mix of plots and counterplots.
As Alice tries to understand the complicated romance she finds herself in, she learns that history is not what she once thought it was.
Once propelled back into the present she struggles to find evidence to support the truth of what she knows and finds herself in deep peril. Someone is guarding the past from investigation and will stop at nothing to thwart her efforts. Including murder.
315 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 22, 2013
7 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Wilson
2 books6 followersEllen Wilson is writer/photographer who lives in Michigan with her husband and daughter.
Her curriculum vitae reads like a menu for a smorgasbord. She's done everything from cleaning expensive vacation homes in Northern Michigan; to banding Canada Geese; to teaching school kids in England.
Since she began freelancing in late 2007 she has written countless articles and other material for satisfied clients and sold many of her photographs.
Wilson is currently at work on the 2nd novel in her Time Travel Destination series.
Her curriculum vitae reads like a menu for a smorgasbord. She's done everything from cleaning expensive vacation homes in Northern Michigan; to banding Canada Geese; to teaching school kids in England.
Since she began freelancing in late 2007 she has written countless articles and other material for satisfied clients and sold many of her photographs.
Wilson is currently at work on the 2nd novel in her Time Travel Destination series.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 30, 2013
When I first read the background copy of this novel, I was intrigued by the idea of a time travel story involving the Bard. The novel met all of those expectations I had and managed to ask a couple of very interesting historical questions that I found myself fascinated by, even if I was not well versed in the specific history of that period (and the corresponding characters involved).
Positives:
* The author has a well constructed narrative style that involves a lot of descriptive language, giving you an excellent sense of the time, background and feel of the environment where the story takes place.
* The ideas put forth by the author are very interesting. Even if you're not a person who begs the question of whether or not Shakespeare was really Marlowe, you're still going to find yourself intrigued by the investigation, in an almost Dan Brown way of seeking knowledge (well, if Dan Brown's books had time travel in them).
* The time travel element wasn't overbearing like it can be in some books and movies (i.e., the whole "oh no, will her actions cause some stupid paradox in history, etc."). Fortunately, there was none of that here, which can be interesting in other stories, but would have been out of place here, and I was glad to see that was not where she went with it.
* The characters were interesting. Some of the background characters kind of got on my nerves, but the main characters proved to be interesting enough that I wanted to know what was going to happen to them, and how they were going to be engaging the story.
Negatives (or where things could be improved):
I'm really not one who likes to write negatives in reviews, but there are a couple of things I found that could be improved upon, and possibly make this story even better.
* A need for a final edit. There are are lot of errors throughout the text that become quite noticeable (especially for someone who lives his life as an actual editor). What I immediately noticed was that they were the kinds of edits that couldn't be caught by a Microsoft spell/grammar checker; they were the kind that you had to read through it carefully and closely to make sure you're hearing and seeing them (like possessive tenses, missing contractions in contracted words, sentences that you know what she meant, but don't actually read that way).
* The Christopher Marlowe narrative appears a bit early in the text to where it took me a few chapters of it appearing to figure out what it had to do with the story. Basically, the novel was in Alice's (the main character's) perspective, and then out of nowhere it jumped to the 16th century with Marlowe; it takes some time to finally see why it was there and why this storytelling process was being used.
Overall, I'd recommend this author for reading, and if she goes through and fixes some of these small points, I think she might have a very powerful, very well researched novel available for readers.
Positives:
* The author has a well constructed narrative style that involves a lot of descriptive language, giving you an excellent sense of the time, background and feel of the environment where the story takes place.
* The ideas put forth by the author are very interesting. Even if you're not a person who begs the question of whether or not Shakespeare was really Marlowe, you're still going to find yourself intrigued by the investigation, in an almost Dan Brown way of seeking knowledge (well, if Dan Brown's books had time travel in them).
* The time travel element wasn't overbearing like it can be in some books and movies (i.e., the whole "oh no, will her actions cause some stupid paradox in history, etc."). Fortunately, there was none of that here, which can be interesting in other stories, but would have been out of place here, and I was glad to see that was not where she went with it.
* The characters were interesting. Some of the background characters kind of got on my nerves, but the main characters proved to be interesting enough that I wanted to know what was going to happen to them, and how they were going to be engaging the story.
Negatives (or where things could be improved):
I'm really not one who likes to write negatives in reviews, but there are a couple of things I found that could be improved upon, and possibly make this story even better.
* A need for a final edit. There are are lot of errors throughout the text that become quite noticeable (especially for someone who lives his life as an actual editor). What I immediately noticed was that they were the kinds of edits that couldn't be caught by a Microsoft spell/grammar checker; they were the kind that you had to read through it carefully and closely to make sure you're hearing and seeing them (like possessive tenses, missing contractions in contracted words, sentences that you know what she meant, but don't actually read that way).
* The Christopher Marlowe narrative appears a bit early in the text to where it took me a few chapters of it appearing to figure out what it had to do with the story. Basically, the novel was in Alice's (the main character's) perspective, and then out of nowhere it jumped to the 16th century with Marlowe; it takes some time to finally see why it was there and why this storytelling process was being used.
Overall, I'd recommend this author for reading, and if she goes through and fixes some of these small points, I think she might have a very powerful, very well researched novel available for readers.
December 4, 2013
Alice Petrovka is a school teacher by day; at night she writes and produces plays in her own theater. She is also a Marlovian, someone who believes the works of William Shakespeare were actually written by Elizabethan playwright and sometime spy Christopher Marlowe.
Alice also questions her marriage and, sometimes, her own sanity. When she suddenly finds herself waking up in Renaissance London, Alice isn't sure whether she fell through a tear in the fabric of time or is suffering a psychotic break. Reality or unreality, Alice is caught up in the intrigue that surrounded Marlowe’s life and his mysterious death. In the process, she discovers a truth that many in her own time will kill to protect.
Author Ellen Wilson has done a masterful job with In the Shadow of Shakespeare, her second novel. She ingeniously weaves a plot between two worlds, Alice's contemporary United States and Marlowe's 16th century England, with well-developed characters and an amazing knack for Olde English dialog. The book encompasses multiple genres—part romance, part science fiction, part historical fiction, part spy novel. You don't have to be an admirer of The Bard or a Marlovian to enjoy this book. You've just got to pick it up.
Alice also questions her marriage and, sometimes, her own sanity. When she suddenly finds herself waking up in Renaissance London, Alice isn't sure whether she fell through a tear in the fabric of time or is suffering a psychotic break. Reality or unreality, Alice is caught up in the intrigue that surrounded Marlowe’s life and his mysterious death. In the process, she discovers a truth that many in her own time will kill to protect.
Author Ellen Wilson has done a masterful job with In the Shadow of Shakespeare, her second novel. She ingeniously weaves a plot between two worlds, Alice's contemporary United States and Marlowe's 16th century England, with well-developed characters and an amazing knack for Olde English dialog. The book encompasses multiple genres—part romance, part science fiction, part historical fiction, part spy novel. You don't have to be an admirer of The Bard or a Marlovian to enjoy this book. You've just got to pick it up.
July 24, 2013
Many fantasy, time travel, and science fiction books are written for young children or teens, so it is delightful to find one that is aimed at an older group of readers. Ellen Wilson’s novel, ‘In the Shadow of Shakespeare,’ is better understood by someone having a detailed knowledge of England during the years in which Shakespeare lived. Most time travel stories require a strong suspension of disbelief because the author doesn’t bother to give us an explanation regarding the reason why the character can travel through time. Ellen Wilson does a good job of laying the groundwork for this story.
If this book has a flaw, I think it lies in the fact that some of it will pass over the head of readers who have no knowledge of Elizabethan England. There are few today who are aware of the controversy regarding the existence of a writer named Shakespeare unless they had English literature in college. Wilson weaves this controversy into her story in a way that is compelling and interesting.
The characters are believable, the story is well plotted, and you feel as if you have been immersed in the culture of the day. If you like intellectual literature you will enjoy this book, but if you taste runs to Harry Potter or stories written for young children, you should probably select something else.
If this book has a flaw, I think it lies in the fact that some of it will pass over the head of readers who have no knowledge of Elizabethan England. There are few today who are aware of the controversy regarding the existence of a writer named Shakespeare unless they had English literature in college. Wilson weaves this controversy into her story in a way that is compelling and interesting.
The characters are believable, the story is well plotted, and you feel as if you have been immersed in the culture of the day. If you like intellectual literature you will enjoy this book, but if you taste runs to Harry Potter or stories written for young children, you should probably select something else.
April 26, 2013
My review is posted on Amazon.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews