Shakespeare's Apprentice

by Veronica Bennett

The year is 1598. Sam Gilburne is an apprentice actor and member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, appearing in the roles created by William Shakespeare. While onstage Sam notices the lovely Lady Lucie Cheetham. The two meet on several occasions and begin to fall in love. Can their story have a happy ending?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Young Adult, Shakespeare

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Veronica Bennett is a children's novelist. Until recently, she worked part-time as an English Lecturer; she now writes fiction full-time. She graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1975 with an Honours degree in English. She began her writing career as a freelance journalist, but soon moved into fiction. Her first book, Monkey, was published in 1998 and was acclaimed by The Times Educational Supplement as "an impressively well-written and audacious debut". Veronica Bennett is married to a university professor and has two children, and currently resides in Middlesex.

Reviews

[Bianca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so confusing time consuming and boring that I wasn't able to finish it. I'm not going to torture myself through this. Maybe it could've become better but I don't think so. I was able to understand the plot line, however, the book was very fast paced which should be a good thing, but with this book it wasn't. It didn't include any imagery at all, I like reading books that let me into their world making sure that I'm there for every single moment that I can imagine it all. When I tried to imagine I couldn't. There were so many characters and most of them not introduced properly. I apologize if I have offended anyone that loved this book, but it's just my opinion and I think it should be a truthful one. Veronica I can imagine the amount of effort and thought and hard work you might've put into this but I'm sorry things can't make everyone happy and it certainly didn't make me happy.

[SHR · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fictional character inserted into real events; great idea and it should have worked better than it did.
I found the story dull and predictable. The historical characters were barely fleshed out, with the possible exception of Shakespeare, and the setting was not brought to life well. If I had not already known the story and setting, I would have struggled to envision it through reading this.
There were a couple of nice pieces which imagined how some well known lines were created or how play titles were picked, but these moments were not enough to redeem the book for me.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Globe was owned by many actors, who were also shareholders in the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Two of the six Globe shareholders, Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, owned double shares of the whole, or 25% each; the other four men, Shakespeare, John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and Thomas Pope, owned a single share, or 12.5%. (Originally William Kempe was intended to be the seventh partner, but he sold out his share to the four minority sharers, leaving them with more than the originally planned 10%). These initial proportions changed over time, as new sharers were added. Shakespeare's share diminished from 1/8 to 1/14, or roughly 7%, over the course of his career.[4]

The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from an earlier theatre, The Theatre, that had been built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576. The Burbages originally had a 21-year lease of the site on which The Theatre was built, they dismantled The Theatre beam by beam and transported it over the Thames to reconstruct it as The Globe.[5]
histoire d'amour a l'eau de rose
mais interessant pour le contexte historique

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, in my opinion, a pleasurable, feel good book. I would have liked maybe a little more description on the surroundings and such as it would have been nice to be able to picture what the author herself was invisioning, but perhaps that's just it, she wanted to leave as much to the imagination as possible. If this is the case, then it is, I suppose, refreshingly different from most books out there. I particularly liked the characterization, I feel she made each person their own. I certainly enjoyed this book and shall look into Veronica Bennett's other works!

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespeare’s Apprentice, set in the late 16th century, follows Sam Gilbourne, an apprentice in Shakespeare’s Lord Chamberlain’s Men; actors.
This truly beautiful love story is just amazing. For all those who have always wished to dive into Shakespeare’s world, without the sometimes-confusing language, this book is definitely for you. I don’t know what else to say… but give it a try. It’s a great read, with great characters, a great love story and a fantastic ending!

[Saar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Historical setting of shakespeare's area :) Liked it.