🌹📜By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult📜🌹
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Playwright Melina Green has been burned by sexism when trying to get her plays published in the past, so convinces her friend Andrè to pretend to have written her play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano who potentially wrote many of Shakespeare’s famous plays.
In an alternative timeline, Emilia is trying to find independence in a world where women belong to men.
Facing similar issues centuries apart both women work towards their futures.

Initially I found this book really hard to get into, but after attending an author event with @jodipicoult and hearing the depth of her passion and research I was reinvigorated to get into it. The evidence behind the Emilia storyline is so compelling and I loved learning about it, the fact that most of it is real is astounding.

I’m a big Jodi fan, but I’d say this story is for anybody who loves a conspiracy theory or feminist uncovering of the past. It wasn’t my favourite book by Picoult but I’m so pleased to have experienced it.

My friends will know Jodi Picoult is one of my all time favourite authors, and most well-read.
Her novels always tackle an important topic, and usually a controversional one.
In this latest novel, there is no doubt the controversy component is ever present.
Historical fiction is a far cry from her usual books, and it was not what I had anticipated from her. But once I detached myself and read it as a historical fiction novel in its own right, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My sister is a huge English literature reader, so adores Sheakespeare. I would love to get her opinion on this book.
I'd be fascinated to read more historical fiction books from Picoult if that is the direction she chooses to take.

This was not a book for me. Books with Shakespearean themes and eras are a bit of a hit and miss for me so that is entirely on me. I had missed Jodi Picoult's writing hence why I requested this book. But alas, that was not enough.
I really loved learning about the women’s playwrights and Shakespeare controversies. It is clear the author researched a lot and I commend for that!

I was just quite bored as neither the plot or characters drew my attention.

The question, "Did Shakespeare really write all the things accredited to him?" has been around for a very long time & there is quite a lot to support that. Jodi Picoult has taken this idea & given us a, "what if....?"

Emilia Bassano was 12 in 1581 when her story begins. She loves to write, as part of a family that are royal musicians. As she was trained to be a rich man's mistress she moved in upper class circles, she travelled & learned a great deal.

Mel is a present day playwright, a distant descendant of Emilia. She struggles to get her work recognised because she is a woman.

The story follows the story of these two women. Separated by centuries they both struggle to overcome the prejudice against their gender.

I enjoyed Emilia's story more than Mel's, although I thought the story went on far too long. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This was accurately described and intriguing, I loved the characters and enjoyed the pace of the narrative.

I’m a huge fan of Jodi Picoult and have read almost all of her books. Unfortunately this one was not for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review

I did enjoy this but I wish Picoult would return to her original, emotive stories of real people. However, I did enjoy learning about this era and it has Picoult's usual flare and passion for the subject that is infectious.

By Any Other Name is a beautifully written, compelling novel that explores the theme of identity and the ways in which two women, centuries apart?one of whom might just be the real author of Shakespeare’s plays?are both forced to hide behind another name to make their voices heard.

Melina is a young playwright in New York. Her ancestor is Emilia Bassano, one of the first female poets. As Emilia researches her she becomes convinced that Emilia actually wrote some of Shakepeares plays and decides to write a play on the subject. However, like her Emilia she finds herself overlooked due to her sex and is forced to make her male flatmate pretend that he is the writer.
From this start the novel is written in dual timelines telling Melina and Emilia’s stories. Emilia’s is better and more interesting as it is clearly well researched and based on fact. However, some aspects such as suggesting Kit Marlowe was her gay best friend just to echo the modern day story line seemed far fetched and rather silly. Melina’s story line seems to be there to break up Emilia’s and to ram home the point that nothing has changed for female writers.
I enjoyed the book but it is very long and I lost interest at several points. Not one of Jodi Piccolt’s best.

What a sweeping, emotional and timely novel.

As a Shakespeare fan, I am often dubious about questions around whether he truly wrote all works attributed to him. However I am now completely open to not only this possibility, but the likelihood.

The book is about more than that. It is a book that is driven by the inequality that women have faced, so the topic is not new. But the the injustice is felt just as painfully as if it it were just discovered. And as we know, how these discourses are still needed to address the misogyny seen into our society.

There are some really important and uncomfortable, as they should be, obervations around the need for intersectionality within feminism. I fear that this makes it all sound a bit dry and its completely far from the reality.

What I loved most about the book was the heart wrenching fictionalised story of Emelia in the 16th/17th century and seeing the parallels with Melina in the 21st century. I was completely absorbed in both timelines and think that Jodi Picoult has written the characters with such viracity and humanity that I couldnt help fall for them.

I wouldnt claim perfection, but any small complaints I might have nearly had are overuled by the wonderfully engaging elements and the tears I shed for Emelia and all the women, who suffer purely for being a woman. I loved it, no matter how much fact is in the book. Emelia has been elevated, even if only as a representation of women, women who they tried to persuade us to forget, but who are worth remembering.
It is important and rousing and completely entertaining.

A dual timeline story that explores the idea at Shakespeare didn't write his own plays - in this book, anywhere in fact written by a woman, Emilia Bassano. Her modern day descendant, Melina, is also a playwright, and Picoult explores the challenges both women faced to get their work seen and recognised.

Beautifully written, although slow in parts, I felt I was in Elizabethan England. I preferred the historical timeline, but interesting parallels between past and present kept me entertained.

Present day - Melina is an aspiring playwright who is struggling to get a foothold in the male dominated industry. When a script of hers, accidentally submitted under a pseudonym, wins a competition, she decides to let it play out but the effect it has on her relationships proves to be worse than she expected.

400 years earlier - Melina's ancestor (and the main character in her play), Emilia Bassano, is a courtesan believed to have been the true author of some of Shakespeare's most succesful work, and this timeline follows her struggles after the death of her father and explains how she ends up meeting and seeling her writing to him.

This well-woven, well researched tale. I have to admit to enjoying Emilia sections more, Melina got on my nerves a bit too much I think! Although the difference (or lack of...) in the gender gap between the two women, 400 years apart, is pretty depressing.

Jodi Picot never disappoints. By Any Other Name is breathtakingly well written, engaging, and enjoyable.

By Any Other Name is a fascinating dual-timeline story that explores the struggles of two female writers, Emilia Bassano in Elizabethan England and her modern-day descendant, Melina Green.
Emilia, a real historical figure, may have written some of Shakespeare’s plays, while Melina faces the same challenges centuries later as a playwright in Manhattan.
I loved the way Jodi Picoult delves into the Shakespeare dilemma and explores the theme of female representation in the arts. The historical details in Emilia’s sections were beautiful, but I found Melina’s character frustrating at times,which is more to say about me than anything else.
Overall, the atmospheric setting and thought-provoking themes made this a compelling read, though the pacing felt slow in some parts.
It’s a must-read for fans of historical fiction, especially those interested in overlapping stories that go for centuries.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy, opinions are my own.

I love Jodi Picoult, but this was a very different piece of writing for her, which I enjoyed very much! If, like me, you ever watched Mamma Mia or We Will Rock You and was amazed that the songs weren't written for the musical, rather than a convincing story woven around existing songs, you will be just as amazed by this book.

Picoult devises a story around the central character of Emilia, who is the 'real' writer of Shakespeare's plays. I love any story set in the Early Modern period, so this was a story I really wanted to read. Emilia is the most amazing character whose life is unbelievably hard. I am not sure I was convinced that her movements would have been quite so free and easy, particularly when she is one man's courtesan and carrying on an affair with another, but I still needed to read on. I wanted a happy ending, but it was not to be. Yet, somehow the resolution was satisfying.

The book had a dual narration, which I know is something Jodi Picoult uses often, but on this occasion, I was so caught up in Emilia's story, I did find the modern timeline to be an annoying distraction. It served as a framing device, but I wasn't that interested in Melina's story.

Another amazing read! Don not pass this one up!

This was such an interesting, well researched and moving story with an immediately intriguing premise. I do love a 'what if' story that takes a well known historical period and gives it a twist. In this case we're given an alternative Tudor literary history that explores the possibility that acknowledged poet Emilia Bassano/Lanier was the true author of some of the most famous plays ever written - in other words, what if William Shakespeare was just a front for a female playwright, the acceptable face for Tudor England society.

I will admit I didn't look too in depth into the premise beyond that key question as I was absolutely drawn in by that alone which did mean I was a little disappointed when it opened up with a modern storyline. Mel is a likeable enough character but wasn't what I wanted from the book. I was much more taken with Emilia's story and was absolutely swept away by her chapters.

The modern timeline felt a little like a rude interruption at times and whilst I understood why the stories were running in parallel I found myself resenting it, especially as how that story was going to unfold was very clearly signposted from minute one. Despite those misgivings, and being proven pretty much correct on every point, Mel's story did wrap up nicely but I overall found Emilia's story to be much stronger, engaging and moving.

I really enjoyed seeing her story develop over the pages and felt much more attached to her so when her story came to its close I found myself profoundly touched by the final pages which were beautifully written.

This was my first Jodi Picoult and I thought her writing style was wonderfully fluid and easy to read and really brought into her world through her words. As a Shakespeare fan I had a smile every time I saw something from a play or sonnet woven into the story helping shape Emilia's experience. Despite my discomfort about the early years of her relationship with Hunsdon due to her age (unfortunately a common enough occurrence during that time) I thought that Picoult navigated it well and really gave context to the situation.

Having read Rachel Blackmore's Costanza earlier this year which a full fictionalised biography, I was left feeling a little disappointed that we had the dual timeline for this story as I wanted to be fully swept up in Emilia's life without distraction. However, overall I can understand why it was written this way and it does work and is an important perspective that gives this book a different edge so it doesn't sit purely in the historical fiction category.

This book may not work for all and it may feel a little long for some but I highly recommend reading it because the historical chapters are captivating and fully draws you into that world.

3.75* rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for a digital review copy of "By Any Other Name" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult is a clever blend of historical and contemporary fiction. In the current day we follow the struggles of Melina, an aspiring playwright who faces an uphill battle in the male dominated world of the theatre. When a trail of circumstances result in her play being submitted to a competition under a male pseudonym she decides to let it slide but as success beckons the struggle to maintain the deceit and the impact it has on her friendships and relationships becomes too much to bear. As the subject of her play she has chosen one of her ancestors, Emilia Bassano, an Elizabethan courtesan who may have written several of the plays attributed to Shakespeare. In the historical timeline we follow Emilia in her struggles as she is essentially sold as a companion to the Lord Chamberlain, whose duties include overseeing the theatre. As she becomes enmeshed in the world she dreams of creating characters and plays of her own, something which is unthinkable and impossible for a woman at that time. Her solution ? Use a jobbing actor/ writer who dreams of fame to front her plays , and the man she chooses is Shakespeare.
I found myself particularly invested in Emilia's story while reading, the descriptions of life in Elizabethan London were amazing and I enjoyed seeing real historical figures crop up as characters. Melina was less compelling to me, while I could understand her struggles on an intellectual level I did not enjoy seeing her take advantage of her friend with very little care or thought for the consequences. This is quite a slow paced book and readers who do not enjoy a lot of description might find it something of a struggle, especially since it is on the longer side. I enjoyed getting a peek behind the curtain of the theatre world but can understand that it might not be to everyone's taste.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Having read all this authors other books, I was really looking forward to this one. However, it was just not my cup of tea. I don’t mind “different timeline” stories and they often add weight to the story. I appreciate what Ms Picoult was trying to achieve by doing this but it actually didn’t work for me. I found the book long winded and fairly tedious. Maybe if I read it again, I may enjoy it more but I am in no desperate hurry to do so

Separated by over 400-years, By Any Other Name tells the story of two female writers, real life figure, Emilia Bassano, and her fictional descendant Melina Green. Jodi Picoult delves into the Shakespeare authorship question and explores the idea of Bassano writing some of Shakespeare’s infamous works with compelling arguments and a stock of real life and fictitious characters. Stretching forward to the present day, Melina is inspired by the discovery of her not-so-famous ancestor, and uses her struggles as the basis of her controversial play in order to relaunch her own creative career after years of rejection.

I find the themes around female representation in theatre and the arguments around the Shakespeare authorship question fascinating. The author has clearly researched and the ‘Easter eggs’ throughout is impressive. I love a historical fiction, and mixed with themes still relevant to the modern day, I thought it was a dead cert. However, I struggled with the book at times. I found Melina as a character pretty annoying, which can be argued is part of the point if you take into account the direct comparison in the book to her gay, black best friend Andre who is also from marginalised communities in theatre.

I felt there was sometimes a disconnect with the writing. Sometimes I would love it, especially Emilia’s sections which were so well researched, and in places, well written. Other times, I found modern writing slipping into the older time period… would an Elizabethan/Jacobean woman really call someone a ‘rat bastard’? I feel like I’m being a tad harsh seeing as I overall enjoyed it but that I just did not buy. I ended the book feeling a little disappointed as I wanted to love it more than I did.

Overall, one for historical fiction / literature fans. I am excited that the Shakespeare authorship question is getting a spotlight, and would love to see if it can sway more people into questioning the concept of Shakespeare as the romantic solitary genius, as well as seeing if a case can be made for Emilia Bassano. I mean, with what little we know about Shakespeare, it’s as good as guess as any, right?

Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors and I have read and every single one of her earlier books but I am sad to say that I just could not get in to this one