What an incredible book!! Jodi Picoult is the queen of weaving stories so detailed that you feel like you’re there. I particularly loved the fact that this is based on true theories and had great fun reading about it from other perspectives when I finished. The best kind of book is one that makes you want to research things within it when you finish!
Thank you so much for this arc!

I am a bit of a fan of this author, admittedly I discovered her late and am still working my way through her back catalogue. But I am also jumping on every new release as soon as I am able. She has the ability to include important messages within her books without coming across as preachy - neat trick indeed.
In this book, she features the inequality of women, something that is a bit topical in the msm and on social networks at the moment, illustrating that, really, things have not progressed as much as maybe we think they have over the past decades/centuries...
We start in the present with Melina who has written a new play. But the chances of it ever being performed is slim, no matter how good it is, the fact that she is a woman is not on her side. So.. she does what anyone would in this situation, she submits it under a male pseudonym.
Ironically, the play she has written is inspired by her own Elizabethan ancestor, Emilia Bassano, and it is here that our narrative splits into a dual timeline as we then also follow Emilia as she finds herself in a similar situation to Melina. You see, she is the real author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. He is only a name, an actor playing a part...
As well as writing a well researched, inspiring, important story, the author has also introduced me to a literary figure who I had never heard of. But one who I would like to know much much more about. It also made me completely shocked to discover that women are still very much second class citizens in the arts. I actually though we were better than this these days, but sadly not. Which as well as being a shock is also a shame. And something to be ashamed about. To be honest with you. I go to the theatre a lot, I am also blessed to live near Chichester Festival Theatre who often produce new plays, by new playwrights and I can't think of one time when I payed any attention as to whether the playwright or producer or whoever was male, female, black, white, straight, queer, or came from the planet mars. It simply didn't register as being a "thing". And I naively, obviously, thought it was the same for everyone else. After reading this book, my eyes have sadly been opened...
This isn't a light read. It weighs in at just under 600 pages and, often, it feels like it. Especially in the sections set in the past. I did get a bit bogged down in them somewhat. I feel a bit of a prune could have been done on some of the long winded descriptions. But then I am a bit of a fan of getting on with things. Others might disagree.
Also, unusually for this author, I felt that some of the characters could have been better fleshed out. Some of them came across as a tad one-dimensional on occasion.
So all in all, I have mixed feelings about his book. Mostly positive but with the aforementioned niggles. I did get through it, eventually, even though it took a while and I did read other things in between, and I am overall pleased that I made the effort. It was a bit of a slog though and, in my opinion, not at all representative of her writing in general.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

In present day Manhattan, struggling playwright Melina learns that she is related to a woman from sixteenth century England, Emilia Bassano. Connected not just by blood, Melina discovers that they have further things in common that span the centuries – they are both female creatives in a male-dominated industry, exploring how they can get their voices heard, whilst navigating the ebb and flow of their personal lives.

I really enjoyed reading ‘By Any Other Name’. I love historical fiction with a dual timeline, and I felt particularly immersed when reading the chapters featuring Emilia throughout her life. These chapters set in the sixteenth century felt vivid and richly woven; I could have quite happily read a whole novel just about Emilia and this period in time.

The chapters set in the present day encourage the reader to think about the similarities between the two women’s lives and exactly how much, if much at all, has changed in nearly four hundred years. The story also explores other biases, unconscious or otherwise, relating to race, sexuality and neurodivergence. I found an argument Melina has with her friend and roommate, Andre, really thought-provoking in this regard.

This is the first novel I have read by this author and the research that has gone into every part of it is clear. It’s possible I had heard the name Emilia Bassano before now, as I wasn’t totally surprised to find out that she is a real person from the sixteenth century, as well as a published poet, and Picoult believes her to be the author of some of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. After finishing the book, I happened across a short film of Picoult being shown a miniature of a woman, possibly Bassano, that is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection, which only brought the book to life even further for me.

A thoroughly fantastic read and thought-provoking in so many ways.

Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for the advance copy of ‘By Any Other Name’, on which this review is based.

Set in historical sixteenth and seventeenth century, and modern day times chapters.
Emilia Bassano in 1581 is aged twelve. Young Emilia’s life is about to change in ways she had never realised. An intelligent girl, with a love of words and writing, but it’s the late sixteenth century when women don’t always have a voice, or a choice.
Moving forward to 2013 and Melina Green from the USA wants to be a playwright. She has dreams, but will they come to fruition?

I loved this book, especially the historical fiction, though there were characters based on real people of the historical era.
I was surprised about the collaboration thoughts of Shakespeare and his writing, but found it fascinating. It does give food for thought.
I was not aware of Emilia Bassano, but now I am I will not forget.
A book I will remember.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

I read a few of JP's books and loved all of them but one. By Any Other Name belongs to the Love category. The book has two timeliness, one in the present set in NYC and the other in the 16th century Shakespearean England.

Emilia Bassano is only 13 when her cousin sells her to Lord Chamberlain as a courtesan. She has access to read theatre plays submitted to Lord Chamberlain who is in charge of deciding which plays make it to the theatre stage. Her dream is to write a play of her own, but as a woman she is not allowed.

Melina Green is a playwright living in New York City sharing a flat with her best friend Andre. She learns that Emilia Bassano is her ancestor and writes a play about her. Worried about prejudices against women in theatre she is reluctant to submit her play. Andre wants to see her friend succeed and submits it on her behalf under a male pseudonym.

Meticulously researched, beautifully written, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Emilia's moving story set in the Elizabethian era intertwined with Melina's struggles as a female playwright in the modern times. One of my best reads in 2024.

Many thanks to net Galley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors so was excited to read her new book.
This one though was not for me, I was disappointed.
The story is told alternately by two young woman, one in the 1500s and one in the present day. I did not like either of these characters.
As in all works by Jodie Picoult, it is obvious that a lot of research went into this book and it is woven into the story. I found it a slow, laborious read, perhaps this is because I am not a Shakespeare fan.
I have to admit I gave up on this one 2 thirds of the way through.

I thought this latest novel from one of my favourite authors, Jodi Picoult, was going to suit me a lot as I love historical fiction. Sadly, I found it my least favourite of her many and varied genre novels for me.

It's an interesting premise written in two timelines. One time line follows Emilia Bassano from aged 12 in 1581 and the other focuses on Melina Green a budding female playwright in modern day.

Emilia Lanier nee Bassano was a real person in history. She was the first female professional poet in England and is believed by some to be one of several writers who William Shakespeare used to write his large portfolio of work. Meanwhile, in present day, Melina is struggling for her work to be recognised as it is seemingly always judged by white men who are prejudiced against the work of women and other groups of people. Melina's flatmate, Andre, who is black and gay, is having his own battles in achieving recognition for his writing. In a drunken moment he decides to help Melina in her effort to be recognised and sends off an email which then makes life very complicated for Melina and Andre.

I preferred the timeline about Melina as the Emilia sections were very lengthy and full of references to Shakespeare plays. I am not a fan of Shakespeare and not familiar with many of his plays so I found these sections very tedious, not least with the old fashioned language used in those times.

I am sorry I could not write a more positive review for one of my favourite authors but thank NetGalley and Michael Joseph for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I usually don't pick historical fiction as my go to genre but I thought I would give this one a go as I have enjoyed some of the authors previous work.

I liked that the story was set in two different timelines, especially with how the POV was presented as it made it easy to follow the story. I have to give the author credit for the amount of research put into this book as you can feel it in the way the story is written.

This book opens up a whole new narrative to the idea that Shakespeare wasn't the original author to all of his work and I'm really glad I was given the opportunity to read this ARC. I will be recommending to all my friends who are fans of historical fiction as it is another great read.

A unique take on the theory that Shakespeare's plays were written by a woman, told in two timelines: Tudor England and modern day New York. Full of Picoult's usual style and elegance, but a bit of a slog to get through at over 500 pages.

This is such an enjoyable read. It’s quite different from the author’s other books and style but still a great read, especially if you love historical fiction. I really liked the premise of the book. What if Shakespeare didn’t write his own plays? What if he was just an intermediary for those who couldn’t publish their own work? This book really makes you think and reflect on what life was like for women in the 15/1600s and about how little has actually changed in the arts world and entertainment industry. All the characters were very well written but I particularly liked the portrayal of the neurodiverse character who I thought was portrayed very realistically and sympathetically rather than your often portrayed rude, difficult odd ball.

I couldn't read this as an ebook for some reason so will get it when it comes out! Sorry! (Leaving a 4 star review to be fair.)

I adore everything Jodi has written, and will continue reading her in the future. But this particular book is not for me. She's an auto purchase author, but the genre of this one is not my usual go to. But if you're a historical fiction fan then this will hit all the high notes for you.
It certainly got me thinking and reevaluating what I thought I knew.

Whilst this book took me a while to get used to the style in which it was written (it cleverly switches from modern day Manhattan to Elizabethan times), once I realised why, I was totally fascinated.
The story is compelling, thought provoking and desperately a story that needs to be told, reflecting Jodi Picoult’s amazing depth of research, cleverly linking the lives of two very different and yet similar women.

What a talent! Through the telling of a story (Emilia Bassano a playwright and poet) within a story, Melina writing a play about the life of Emilia, the reader comes to a deeper understanding of a woman’s life in Elizabethan times.

I have benefitted hugely from reading this, where my preconceptions have been challenged and the importance of identity and bring heard are explored so perceptively. This story will stay with me for a long while, as will this quote
‘THERE ONCE WAS A GIRL WHO BECAME INVISIBLE IN ORDER THAT HER WORDS MAY NOT BE’
I totally recommend this book!

The book explores the possibility that Shakespeare didn't write the plays he was credited for.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's a dual timeline. One set from the late1500's and one in the present day.

The timeline in the past was amazing. Emilia Bassano had gone through so much. It was so easy to root for her. She'd loved and lost, was sold and rejected, but still she carried on.

She started by rewriting plays for the stage and then went on to write her own plays and then sold them to Shakespeare, who brought them to life on the stage.

Sadly, I didn't like the MC in the present day. I feel I could have skipped it all and then absolutely loved the book. Maybe because the past was so emotional and written so beautifully that the present day didn't stand a chance.

This is not the usual Jodi Picoult book. Thought provoking yes.
‘By Any Other Name’ alternates between the perspectives of Emilia Bassino in Elizabethan England and Melina Green in the present day. I so wanted both characters to be based on real people and I was not disappointed to read that Amelia Lanyer was the first female Jewish poet to be published in England.
There have been many theories about Shakespeare and whether he actually wrote all of his plays and here the author makes a compelling case for the fact he did not. I enjoyed the many Shakespeare references throughout the book and the way they are interweaved into the story.
A strong feminist theme runs through this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, Michael Joseph and Penguin Random House for the advance copy of this book.

Given that I’ve literally just put down the book and want to immediately review it should give you the impression that at the very least my opinion is strong about By Any Other Name.

In fact, I’d possibly rank this book as one of my all-time favourites. I see why some have been thrown by the slight shift in Jodi Picoult’s genre/style, but I’ve always loved her writing and historical books so this was a perfect match for me. Anything with court intrigue, forced marriages, women having to scrape for their lot in life to pave the way for us nowadays: Catnip to me.

Each time the perspective changes between Emilia and Melina I had the sudden sadness of being ripped away from a storyline I was hooked on. And this happened both ways! I could have read two books, each one fully about one of these women. It’s an impressive feat for me, I usually have one perspective that I prefer or just enjoy more, but that wasn’t the case here. How Jodi manages this I’ll never know.

The main message of the book is one of feminism and pointing out how the fact that some women need to hide behind men to be taken seriously and be allowed in the door is still the case today, despite all the progress we’ve made, but it doesn’t always have to be. Women, then and now, deserve to be seen as equals to men and just seen full stop.

It does this with some really poetic imagery and amazingly descriptive scenes. I felt like I was living inside both Emilia and Melina and feeling their struggles and pain as they went through everything. I genuinely teared up at the end, and I don’t do that often with books. This is a book everyone should read and everyone should have a chance to fully embrace the morals behind it.

I can’t really say much more than that.

(But I will)

I loved the characters, even the utterly horrid ones, they felt all like real people to me and all individuals in their own right. Even when I knew a historical figure would die around that time, it still hit me just as hard as Emilia when she heard it for the first time - amazing impact.

The plot wasn’t the fastest I suppose, but for me that just made it even easier to sink in to both lives without being dragged along by a fast-paced storyline.

This book makes me want to create my own art - and stamp my name in capital letters underneath it.

Picoult is always worth reading but this one didn’t hook me the same despite being a very interesting concept and setting.

This is a really interesting and though provoking book written in a dual timeline featuring strong women who in their time were great authors but for different reasons were unable to show their works.

Back in the days that William Shakespeare was becoming famous a young woman who was a talented author but was unable to show anyone her work as she was female is living her life, guided by the men in her life. Wanting and needing more she meets WS and sells him her work, which he produces as his own to great acclaim.

Many years later a female relative of the woman is convinced her predecessor was the rightful author and looks into her story, while struggling still to get published as a female author.

Great writing and a very insightful piece of work, showing the worth of woman and the struggles still faced today due to gender.

Published 10 October 2024. This is a novel in two timelines on of which is the re-imagining of the life of Emilia Bassano/Emilia Lanier who was the first woman to become a published poet in 1611 and who is also, in some circles, believed to be the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's Sonnets and who also, some believe, may have been a writer of his plays. The question of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays is a debate that has thrown up many candidates over the years and is a debate that still continues today. In this novel, in the present day, Melina Green, also a playwright, is an ancestor of Emilia and so writes a play about her life - the second timeline. Both women struggle to get their words on the stage - Emilia because of the conventions of the day and Melina because of the theatre scene where gender and race are hurdles to climb. Emilia uses Shakespeare to get her plays on the stage while Melina asks her friend, Andre - an African-American playwright who is also finding it difficult to break through in the theatre world. It was an interesting idea to weave the two stories together in this way but for me, I found Emilia's story more engaging. The author brings the era to life - there are so many details about the hardships that women found in a time when as one line tells us - it was legal for a husband to beat his wife as long as the stick was not wider than his thumb. Imagine! Emilia is a fighter, a survivor, a passionate lover and a fierce mother. I adored her and wept with her. In contrast, although Melina's struggle to get her play on the stage under her own name was fascinating, I found her to be a much weaker character. I don't think she would have been able to live the life that Emilia did - there doesn't seem to be that strength within in. In my opinion anyway. I enjoyed this - I liked being taken back to Shakespeare's time and finding all the references to plays, to sonnets hidden within. Emilia is a character who could have had a book of her own.

I thank NetGalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House for providing me an ARC copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.
This is not the first book by Jodi Picoult I’ve read, although it has been a long time since I read any of her novels, and it is a totally different reading experience, or almost. Her writing is excellent, and she can make readers share in the feelings and thoughts of her characters and that is still the case here. But rather than being a contemporary story about some controversial or complex topic, this is a novel about two women, one in the present time (we meet Melina Green in 2013 and leave her in 2027) and the other in Elizabethan England (we meet Emilia in 1581 and accompany her until 1645). Apart from the chapters from each of the protagonists’ points of view, we also get some insights into the thoughts of a male character, Jasper Tolle (a New York Times theatre critic), and we read fragments of a play called… By Any Other Name, the play Melina has written about Emilia Bassano, her ancestor, and the first woman to publish a book of poetry in England.
Most people who are interested in classical theatre, Shakespeare in particular, will have heard about the academic debates surrounding the authorship of the plays that have been attributed to him. There are many reasons for that debate, and there have also been different candidates proposed as authors of the plays. In this novel, Picoult shares one of these theories, whilst at the same time creating a fascinating character (based on a real historical figure) and giving her readers a good sense of what living in England as a woman (a woman who was secretly Jewish) at such point was like. Emilia’s story is a tragic one in many ways, but one of the things the narrative does very well is show that her story was not unusual, and other than a few women who had been born in extraordinary circumstances (Queen Elizabeth I, for example), most women didn’t hold any power and were used, abused, ignored or made invisible by the men around them and the society of the time. I had never heard of Emilia Bassano before reading this book, and I was immediately fascinated by her, her eagerness to create, and the way she manages to survive all kinds of traumas and losses.
That part of the story is full of details that bring the era to life for readers, but they never get in the way of the action. She is surrounded by other historical figures, some better known than others (I was particularly fond of Christopher Marlowe, who in this novel becomes Emilia’s friend and a strong supporter of her writing), and she experiences all kinds of turmoil: she loses both parents, is taken as a ward by aristocrats who end up abandoning her, is sold to become a courtesan by her relatives, forced into marriage when she gets pregnant, her husband is violent and regularly abuses her, she has to hide her love for another man and her writing, submitting it under a false name, she has to abort a child by her lover and loses one of her children when still a toddler, she is left penniless on many occasions and has to find ways to support herself… Hers is a life full to the brim, and I found it compelling and moving.
Melina’s story illustrates the hurdles female playwrights face daily, even now. She almost gives up writing when a critic tells her, as a young female writer, that her work is too personal and is of no interest to anybody else (because we all know only men’s lives are of any interest), and she struggles to regain her confidence and submit her work because she does not trust herself. Her best friend, Andre, an African-American, is another playwright, and he also faces prejudices. Despite Melina’s refusal, he sends her play about her ancestor, Emilia Bassano, to a contest, under the name “Mel Green”. When he is mistaken for the playwright, Melina asks him to go along with it and pretend to be the author a bit longer, whilst she waits for the right time to reveal herself without risking the suspension of the play. But, of course, things get complicated.
I also enjoyed the part of the story about Melina, especially her interactions with Andre and Jasper (who, despite his previous negative opinion of Melina’s writing, ends up being quite a nice guy and whose neurodivergence makes him not fit easily in), although the insta-love didn’t totally work for me. I appreciated the arguments about the role of women in the theatre world, now and then, which remains mostly dominated by white men, and also the way it shows how the establishment seems intent on patting themselves on the back for any plays promoting diversity or written by anybody other than ‘the usual suspects’ (be it women, racially diverse, LGBTQ…) but find it difficult to truly level the playing field.
In my opinion, Emilia’s story is more compelling and more gripping, and although Melina’s story works well as a frame for the historical fiction part of the novel, I didn’t feel it was as strong. Emilia’s story is much longer, so those who don’t appreciate it or were expecting a novel much more in Picoult’s usual lines, might not enjoy this one.
I have mentioned the writing, and it is gorgeous. Of course, there are plenty of references to Shakespeare’s sonnets and his plays, and readers who are familiar with his(?) work are likely to enjoy picking up the references as they read (the author lists them all at the end of the novel). Anybody who has a very strong opinion about the authorship of the plays might disagree with the theory exposed here, I am sure, but Picoult makes a rather convincing case, and she also shares some of the sources of her research at the end, so that anybody interested can explore the matter further.
The novel is written in the third person throughout, and I must warn readers that there are some scenes of violence and sex (not the most explicit I’ve read, by any means, but this is not a ‘clean’ novel), so that should be taken into account when deciding to read the book or not. Oh, and don’t expect all to be doom and gloom (although there is plenty of that); there are light, joyful and funny moments, and lots of witty repartee as well.
I enjoyed the ending. It felt like a nice closure for all the characters, and it is neither unexpected not pedestrian.
The author includes a section of acknowledgements that gives a good insight into her process of research (evident through the pages of this novel), and as I’ve said, there is also a list of references to plays, poems, and other works included in the novel, and a bibliography with some of the sources she has studied. Some of the reviews mention an author’s note. I have only read an ARC copy, and it might be that the final version of the book has been slightly changed and something else added, but I can’t comment on that.
In sum, this is a novel that might surprise some of Picoult’s regular readers, but I think most people who love stories centred around women, historical fiction, dual-time stories, and especially those fond of Shakespeare’s plays and intrigued by the different theories about his authorship will enjoy this extraordinary novel.