In a mystery set in Elizabethan London, 14-year-old Richard Malory joins Shakespeare’s theater company and discovers a Catholic plot against the queen. When his mother dies, Richard travels to London to search for his long-absent father. As he struggles to survive he falls into acting with the Lord Chamberlain’s Players and learns that he has real talent. He also learns that his father has been involved in a dangerous conspiracy that leads to the torture and beheading of those whom the Queen’s agents can catch. The double plotlines of the conspiracy and of Richard’s development as an actor illuminate two interesting aspects of Elizabethan history. The political intrigue points to the passions then prevalent against Catholics, and the lively view from inside Shakespeare’s theater demonstrates the excitement and tensions experienced by the actors. Cheaney manages dialogue that rings true to the times, as does his richly flavored writing style. Altogether, the suspense and historical details add up to a spirited introduction to one of the most fascinating periods in history. The book includes a “prologue” and a historical note that discuss the basic history of the period, with a map of Elizabethan London. It might be read as a companion to Gary Blackwood’s The Shakespeare Stealer (1998). (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-80577-X
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-7868-2439-5 From Karr (Man of the Family, p. 1312, etc.), a historical novel that is remarkably cheerful, considering that among its key elements are grave-robbing and a hideous criminal on the prowl. In New York City in 1840, Matthew loses his whole family to cholera. Trying to keep body and soul together, he answers an advertisement for an assistant to a remarkable fellow, Dr. Asa B. Cornwall, phrenologist. Dr. ABC, as he is known, studies the cranial features of people, and deduces by the lobes and bumps on their heads their personalities and characteristics; he’s writing his magnum opus to prove his theories. Matthew takes to the larger-than-life doctor; they travel to Philadelphia, London, Paris, and the south of France, attempting’surreptitiously—to dig up famous skulls for the doctor’s research. All the while, in the smoothly suspenseful plotting, a vicious and mysterious stranger with a scar follows them, putting Matthew in danger and haunting his nightmares. The thrilling denouement takes place on St. Helena and involves the body of Napoleon himself; this novel is rich in period color and good old-fashioned derring-do. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7868-0506-4
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
Loosely connected to historical events, this tale of a 17th-century English town that isolated itself to prevent the plague from spreading celebrates selfless courage, but it does so at some distance, and within the confines of a contrived, ordinary story. Daughter of a prosperous, bookish squire, Nell Bullen has enjoyed an idyllic upbringing, and despite confirmed rumors of plague, eagerly accompanies her father to London when he is inducted into the Royal Academy. Guided by the up-and-coming Samuel Pepys, Nell tours the city, avoiding the plague-ridden districts until by mischance she witnesses a horrifying mass burial. Sobered, she returns to Branford, not long before the local tailor takes ill. Viewed largely from the distant safety of the manor house, the townfolks’ principled decision to stay put rather than flee, and their subsequent suffering, will seem a remote catastrophe to readers, and Nell’s stilted narrative style (“Among our visitors from London was a singular young man whom I misjudged completely at the start,”) gives this the artificiality of a formula romance. Though the act from which this story springs merits commemoration, the inner and outer devastation wrought by disease is more vividly captured in Cynthia DeFelice’s Apprenticeship of Lucas Whittaker (1996) and Anna Myers’s Graveyard Girl (1995). (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
