A thoroughly readable biography of Shakespeare is in good hands here (Anne Terry White has a creditable record of non-fiction for this age group). Using a well established interpretation of the language of the day, the narrative begins with Shakespeare at 22, at the end of his unsuccessful marriage to Anne Hathaway, on his way to London to become an actor. With almost loving care it follows will's first thrill of the city and the theatre, his first disappointment when he learns from Burbage that his acting talents are not varied enough, and his first taste of a strict regime of writing, acting and directing that was to keep him busy until his death. Choosing to reconstruct many of the plays as part of her story, the author pauses to give an especially full reinterpretation of Julius Caesar, as Shakespeare read it to his friends. Aside from the plays there is the richness of Elizabethan London, theatres, actors, Marlowe, Jonson and the others. For younger readers too.