What a brilliant read. Jodi Picoult never disappoints. Loved the story and really gets you thinking about the story behind it. Would highly recommend this book.

Queen of the courtroom suspense dips her toe into a historical reimagining. Smart and intriguing this Shakespearean tale is one to devour

I’m a huge fan of Jodi Picoult, I’ve read all of her books and was really looking forward to getting stuck into her latest release.

However, this book just wasn’t for me. The premise that Shakespeare was actually a women sounded really interesting but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the execution of the story at all.

I found it slow and couldn’t connect with the characters. Some of the writing felt a little patronising around women’s rights.

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult work and I was looking forward to reading this. At first, I was surprised and apprehensive as it completely different style of writing from the author.
Set in two timelines, Present day and the 1500 England. Present day Melina wants to be a playwright but can’t because of her gender so she asks her friend Andre to submit her play in a competition. But her actions doesn’t end well. It’s the 1500’s her distant relative Emilia Bassano after becoming a mistress for the Lord Chamberlain who oversees theatre production. Emilis starts to write her own plays but cannot show them because she is a woman. So, with the help of Shakespeare, she get her writings a voice.
I didn’t think I was going to like this as I am not really a fan of Shakespeare. But I was quite surprised how I enjoyed it. Especially Emilia’s story and the hardships she had to endure. This is a fascinating tale, not only fans’s of the authors work but for Shakespeare too. 5 stars from me.

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

Thank you so much to Penguin SA and NetGalley for a review copy of By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult. Something you need to know about me is that I LOVE Jodi Picoult. After I read Nineteen Minutes by her, I was hooked. Her writing is phenomenal – in my opinion – and I just love how she addresses big topics with so much nuance. When I saw that her new book was a historical fiction, I was skeptical. I am not a fan of historical fiction normally and then coupled with Shakespeare, I just thought, “Oh no!”. *insert PTSD response from high school here* However, after reading a few reviews, I changed my mind. I wanted to see what it was all about.

Despite being nervous going into this book, I was blown away right from the start! As I mentioned, I adore Jodi Picoult’s writing style and literally felt comfort from reading her writing again. That was unexpected and surprising. It definitely clarified for me that I resonate really well with her writing style. And then the content of this book. It was so interesting!! The book is written with two POV’s – one being Emilia Bassano who is living in the late 1500’s into the early 1600’s, and the other being Melina Green who is Emilia’s ancestor living in the current day. Both are female playwrights who are struggling to publish their works under their own names due to being females in an industry that is dominated by men.

The two timelines really worked well. The chapters that looked at Emilia’s life were quite a bit longer than the chapters that focused on Melina but I didn’t mind that at all. It was fascinating, and upsetting, reading about her life. She goes through the most difficult things but manages to persevere through it all. Her life as a playwright adds so much richness to the story since she processes the events of her life through her writing. Then she decides that she wants her plays to be acted out on stage in theatre but she cannot publish plays using her own name. This is where William Shakespeare comes in. Picoult explores the possibility that none (or very few) of the writings credited to Shakespeare were actually his own. The way that this is explored and unpacked in this book is incredible!

Melina, in the modern day, wants to publish a play that talks about Emilia Bassano’s life but this is ten years after a straight-talking theatre critic says the harshest thing about one of the first plays that Melina has written and crushes her self-confidence completely. The beautiful thing is that ten years later, this same critic, Jasper Tolle, and Melina herself find themselves face to face with their own biases and privilege as they navigate not only their lives but theatre as well. What happens is that Melina’s best friend Andre, a gay black man, ends up drunkenly submitting this play to a theatre competition but changes Melina’s name to Mel to make it seem more masculine. Then, when Melina’s play wins the competition, she talks Andre into acting like it was his play so that it doesn’t get tossed out. The whole time Andre is encouraging Melina to tell the producer that it’s her play but she doesn’t. She just wants the message of her play out there in the world. Obviously, this does not work out well in the end – hence everyone getting a serious dose of reality.

I could not put this book down! And when I had to put it down, I was thinking about it all the time. I still am!! It was such an interesting read with so many facets and layers that are explored. I do need to say that Emilia’s character’s story was a lot to digest. Being a women in the 1500’s and 1600’s was no joke and Jodi Picoult does not shy away from unpacking this theme just as much as the theme about Shakespeare. There is also another main theme of how women were, and sometimes still are, deemed as less than men – less smart, less creative, less worthy etc.

A solid 5 star read for me! If you are into historical fiction and or would be interested in reading how Shakespeare might not be the one behind all the Shakespeare we all know, I would highly recommend this.

This was a book with two strong storylines which focus on the recognition of women playwrights in different eras. I enjoyed both equally which is rare in a novel with two timelines. I learned a lot about Emilia Bassano's life, from her visit to Denmark, to her relationship to the court. The research that has gone into uncovering this is impeccable. In the modern strand, the every day sexism that still exists in the theatre is both shocking and recognisable, but the power of words to cut through this is a big theme in the novel.

This is a long read and the work in this book is immense - I caught quite a few of the Shakespearean references, but another reading would certainly repay any reader. There is so much to appreciate here - the literary skill in producing such a book, the historical background to Emilia Bassano's life, and the current state of theatre in the USA. This book will especially appeal to book groups as there is so much to discuss about women and how their words are, still today, too often usurped by men.

This is a book that will live in my head for a while. It dealt with many critical topics very effectively and touchingly without losing the ability to transport the reader into a good story.

I loved the historical timeline; the setting was described beautifully and everything came to life. Emilia was a character I rooted for straight away.
However, the modern timeline was not as vivid to me. I fount it hard to connect to the setting and couldn't really grasp any of the characters. That said, the dual timeline was necessary to the story and - in my opinion - brought home the fact of "how much has changed/not much has changes"

I believe By Any Other Name will become a modern classic in its own right and is absolutely worth a read (or maybe more :)).

Throughout the book I was looking forward to historical notes and was a bit disappointed not to find any. Maybe that will be added for the actual print version of the book.

I’m a big fan of the middle period of Picoult’s novels, but I haven’t enjoyed the more recent books. However, I could not put this one down. This is not the standard Picoult novel centred around a court case with a big twist three quarters in. This is very different and I forgot I was reading Picoult at all.

I also thought this would be a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, like the recent novel Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons. I was wrong again.

By Any Other Name is a meticulously researched exposé of Shakespeare that combines the stories of an extraordinary woman and her modern day ancestor with searing commentary on the enduring struggle of women and other minorities to have a creative voice.

Mel and Andre’s current day stories are nuanced and incisive but it was the story of Emilia that really gripped me. Whether or not any of the historical claims are true, the point remains that every facet of this beautifully embroidered and critical novel is completely believable.

For fans of Stacey Halls, Laura Shepherd Robinson and Anna Mazzola.

I loved By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult. The parallels between the 2 main characters are made beautifully even though one is in Elizabethan England and the other is current-day New York. It a really well-told story that accurately describes women and the barriers they face in professional life and society even today. I tried to spot all of the Shakespeare quotes but no doubt missed lots of them. 5 stars.

Firstly, thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this advanced reading copy for me to review. The book is released this Autumn.

The story follows two women in two time lines. Emilia Bassano, from 1580s onwards, and Melina Green, a distant relative, in modern times. The life of Emilia, the first female published poet, is far from simple, and plans to become a playwright, however due to females having no voice, has to voice her art through a man, William Shakespeare. Similarly in modern times, Melina also has difficulty as a playwright being taken seriously due to being female.

Jodi Picoult is an amazing writer, having read only a couple of her works prior to this, and whilst not my typical read, I really enjoyed this book. I love how the author often tackles subjects that are at times taboo or should be discussed more often. The subject here is the struggles of females, BAME and the LGQBT+ community in the theatre setting.

Whilst I am not the biggest Shakespeare fan, and there being lots of easter eggs that may have been lost on me, I was intrigued by Emilia's character arc and story. She is an easy character to like and route for.

Likewise, Melina's character was also compelling and well written. However I instantly loved the character Jasper Tolle, and their relationship. There were less important characters throughout both women's tales that did however lack depth and they could have been written better.

Overall, for a genre that I am not normally interested in, or familiar with, I loved this heart warming, compelling feminism historical fiction. It was well researched, and has left me questioning the truth beyond the bard's plays, which I believe is one of the reasons this is a great book. This is not my favourite Jodi Picoult book that I have read, however I found it really interesting. Definitely recommend for Shakespeare fans, or fans of historical fiction or even conspiracy theorists.

Emilia Bassano is a female playwright who has no voice, born at a time when women were not taken seriously creatively. By giving her plays to someone else, namely William Shakespeare her plays and sonnets can be heard by the masses. I present day, Melina Green writes a play, descended from Emilia believes she won't be taken seriously either unless her play appears to be written by a man.

I found this an extremely interesting read. I did find it a little slow at times but I still wanted to continue with it. Both timelines were intriguing and easy to follow as they were interspersed together. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical literary fiction.

Jodi picoult is a force to be reckoned with as an author the amount of thought and detail in this book is outstanding. I don’t even want to think of the amount of time that went into researching.

This book shows the plight of woman through the ages from Emilia who was born in the 1569 who was an amazing author and playwright and such a show of strength. But as a woman not able to show her craft to the world

Then skip forward to 2013 to Melinda a descendent of Emilia who faces different battles but battles none the less

This book is a masterpiece it really is and has to go on the reading list. The characters and how they come alive on the page, the detail, the subject matter , just everything about this book is awesome inspiring

So pleased I got the opportunity to read it

‘By Any Other Name’ is unlike any Jodi Picoult book I have read before. She draws parallels between the dual timelines of Emilia Bassano and Melina Green. Melina is Emilia’s descendent and a playwright and has held a long time passion for proving that some of Shakespeare’s most famous works were written at the hand of Emilia.
I appreciated the parallels of Elizabethan England and modern day Manhattan and how women are still pushed aside over the voices of men, but also the marginalization of so many other groups within society but especially mainstream arts. I really liked the historical timeline as I felt like it was more vivid and engaging than the modern day although I can see why the comparison reads more poignantly as a social comment on today’s society.
I am a huge fan of Shakespeare and loved all of the little intricacies that Picoult wove into the narrative but even if you’re not it won’t take away anything from the story. Although I found Emilia’s character to be a strong and forthright female MC I will say that within the depiction of her marriage there is a trigger warning for abuse and domestic violence.
Overall a fresh and genius story and a novel that is thought provoking and will definitely stay with you; something I feel is a Picoult trademark.

For many years I have absolutely loved Jodi Picoult’s books but I must admit reading too many back to back became a bit unadvisedly because, although all equally excellent, they seemed to follow similar story arcs. This one completely breaks the usual mode but in a good way, while maintaining everything that is good about the author, Often, when you read historical fiction, the society the characters inhabit feels so removed from our own it’s hard to empathise with the protagonists but this was perfectly delivered. The characters were human and relatable even though (for the majority of the time, anyway) they lived in a totally different world, so you felt like you were GoIng back in them not just being shown history,
I would have liked to read a bit more bout the modern plot which kept shifting back l most too quickly but this didn’t dampen the story at all.

I love anything by Jodi Picoult but I’m not a huge historical fiction lover HOWEVER Jodi really pulls it out of the bag as I didn’t find any aspect of the book tedious when it came to the historical part. I found the book riveting, exciting and everything I want in a blockbuster of a book. I’m giving it all the stars!!!

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I love this author
and was so thrilled to be able to read this

You won't be disappointed
This was fabulous

I enjoyed this book and it had a very interesting premise. Bit of a slow burn but had to stick with it as I found it quite addictive!

I'll admit, it took me a while to get into this at the start and I'm concerned the format with the script pages will stop people reading because if you stick with it, it's a fantastic read. I adore dual timelines. I did prefer Emilia's story but mainly because Melina frustrated me and it felt preachy at times. Still, Jasper is a brilliant character and I loved a lot of the interaction between Melina and Andre. Emilia's story transported me. Loved it. So many layers to her and her world. I also really enjoyed meeting the literary figures of the time and all the references to famous lines from plays and sonnets. I cried towards the end!

This is very different to any Jodi Picoult book I’ve read.
What surprised me was how much I enjoyed Emilia’s story, to be honest I would have enjoyed it far more if it was purely her story but I do understand it highlights the struggles today and how much more work still needs to be done to address and overcome it.
It was very thought provoking and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC