Liebt ich am Himmel einen hellen Stern

Shakespeare Trilogy #1

by Eric Malpass

William Shakespeare is just eighteen when he marries Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior. Anne, who bears a son soon after the marriage, is plain and not particularly bright – but her love for Will is undeniable. Talented and fiercely ambitious, Will’s scintillating genius soon makes him the toast of Elizabethan London. While he basks in the flattery his great reputation affords him, Anne lives a lonely life in Stratford, far away from the glittering world of her husband. This highly evocative account of the life of the young William Shakespeare begins the trilogy which continues with The Cleopatra Boy and concludes with A House of Women.

319 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Janina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Klappentext und der Titel lassen vermuten, dass es sich um eine Liebesgeschichte handelt. Das ist nicht der Fall. Es ist eine fiktionalisierte Biographie von William Shakespeare, in der natürlich auch seine Frau vorkommt. Niemand in der Geschichte ist wirklich sympathisch und es passiert auch nicht wirklich viel. Aber ich hab einiges über England um 1600 gelernt.

[Anduine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovingly written trilogy about how it could have happend

[Ralitsa]

A wonderful story about the challenges of living with genius. It's hard for both the talented Shakespeare and those who love him. He's torn between love for his family and the need to create art, which is overpowering. Yet he deeply loves his family, is devastated by the loss of his son Hamnet and full of regrets as a father and spouse. Shakespeare is lucky to be married to older and wiser Anne Hathaway who is able to realize that she can never fully know him, just love him. She herself is a tragic character who lives a life of loneliness in service of a brilliant man she loves but can't fully be with.