The Secret Life of William Shakespeare [Paperback]

Books about Shakespeare vary hugely both in terms of approach and quality. Some focus on historical fact, while others play rather more loosely with the romance of his life. Fortunately for readers, Jude Morgan's books are rather more reliably excellent. What's more, he has a track record of fiction that concerns great writers, having previously tackled the Brontës ("The Taste of Sorrow") and the romantic poets ("Passion"). So my expectations were already quite high coming into his "The Secret Life of William Shakespeare" - expectations that he has again surpassed.

There are two aspects to the book that make it so good: the style and the content. Of these, the style is the one that may put some people off. It's certainly not a light read. If you want a breezy Elizabethan tale, then this may not be for you. It's unashamedly literary and not always an easy read, but as with watching a Shakespeare play, after a short while what seems at first impenetrable soon fades and the rich language and style becomes a strength. It's worth noting that he uses the present tense for much of the book too.

Morgan has an ability to suggest the style of his subjects in his writing. His "The Taste of Sorrow" strongly suggests the writing style of the Brontë sisters who are its subject matter. Without taking anything away from that book, it's rather more difficult to achieve this with Shakespeare, but again he manages to do that. This means that when there is dialogue between say Shakespeare and Ben Jonson or Anne Hathaway, it at least seems as if this comes from the same mouth that wrote the plays, while at the same time making it intelligible to modern readers. It's skillfully done and very rewarding if you are prepared to put in some effort.

In terms of the content, the books great strength is partly in what it doesn't do. I've read a great many books on Shakespeare - probably too many: I should get out more. But they generally fall into two camps. Either they pander to the view that we know so little about him, although in fact it's amazing how much we do know about a man of such humble background given the age. This is the problem. Writers often feel compelled to throw in the known "facts" which leads to the same story just told differently. The other trend is for people to take events, or make them up, and link them to events in his plays in a way which suggests Shakespeare suffered from a stunning lack of imagination.

Morgan avoids both these traps and therefore is free to indulge in a fiction of his own making that is wholly believable. For example he has Anne popping down to London at times when most leave her festering away in Stratford. There's no evidence she did visit London but as far as I'm aware there's no evidence she didn't. So Morgan is able to use his imagination in a way that few do when it comes to Shakespeare. Most of all, it's wholly believable.

This is another of Morgan's strengths. He is a gritty writer. Too often historic fiction gets carried away with tales of court and the result is a rose tinted view of Elizabethan splendor. But life was tough. Shakespeare wasn't part of that nobility and plague, fires, and general living conditions were hard. Morgan's depiction at least feels much more authentic, although I'm not quite old enough to recall the late 1500s myself.

He presents a convincing characterisation of Mr and Mrs Shakespeare as well as of people like Ben Jonson and Kit Marlow. In fact Jonson is a critical part of the narrative. From a very different background, it is the more educated Jonson who is most astute in his analysis of Shakespeare as a man. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Will and Anne.

As long as you are prepared for a somewhat challenging and rich style, this is historical fiction of a very high order.

I got introduced to Jude Morgan through the very wonderful The Taste of Sorrow and was swept up by his ability to write what I suppose must be called 'fictional biography'. In that earlier book, he had clearly steeped himself intensely in the writings of the Bronte Sisters, and also in the known biography of their family, and had produced an astonishingly beautifully written, creative piece, true to their literature and what we know of their lives, but rounded by the imagination of a superb narrative and empathetic imagination. I felt my understanding of the books and the lives had been enriched.

In that earlier book, we were dealing with a more nearly modern world, where facts can be checked, less than 200 years ago. This time, Morgan has freer range with creative imagination, as the facts of Shakespeare's life are far fewer, though the canon of work by which the man is also revealed, is much larger. And it seems to me that what Morgan has so clearly done is to say 'by their works, you shall know them', and has steeped himself in the work, to reveal an idea of Shakespeare the man. Which seems enormously right and proper.

For me, this was an utterly successful book. I have spent the past few days letting the reading settle, really wishing I could meet Shakespeare, but with a wry smile, as of course I can, by re-reading the works. Morgan, a beautiful writer, does well with these fictional biographies of other beautiful writers. Phrases from the plays and poems are scattered, very naturally, within the text.

He has even made an acute and creative leap to make a virtue out of the fact that we know very little of the man. Other more defined historical characters trot through the pages, Jonson, Marlowe, Kyd, Dekker et al - but it is Jonson, musing about his friendship with Will, who is given this thought

''How if indeterminacy is Will's essence? But it can't be- because if he is nothing, how can he be what he so magnificently is?''

Shakespeare the actor; Shakespeare the writer. Both acts which if properly done, require a kind of negation of the self and the ego, so though invention must come from the actor or the writer's sense of self, there must be a supreme and non-judgemental ability to get inside other - however virtuous or vicious that other - and inhabit them from within themselves, not from a sense of the actor or the writer commenting on their creation.

Magnificent book, Mr Morgan. Not least also for the literary criticism element - but from showing how Shakespeare, Jonson, Marlowe et al as people, give rise to who they are, as writers. Morgan illuminates the men by their writing, and it is the writing which illuminates the men. He (Morgan)has a brilliant almost psychoanalytical understanding of human complexity, and how to allow each person to show their story.

Did William Shakespeare's knowledge derive from personal experience? Was he a courtier? Did he travel the world? Fight in wars? Where was he during the missing years? There are more questions than answers. Jude Morgan's lovely, resonant book may be only speculation but from first t o last page it convinces. Perhaps this is how it was. If not, no matter, read on and be enchanted.

The Secret Life of William Shakespeare is, of course, the story of a playwright, the man who may have been in London, mixing with Marlowe, Kyd, Dexter, Jonson and the rest. The man who may have needed to be in the London of the Chamberlain's Men, the Queen's Men, a player, learning his craft with Henslowe and Burbage and the rest. Was it there he met the Dark Lady of the Sonnets - and were those verses meant for the Earl of Southampton or for some French temptress?

All these are touched on, are essential threads in Morgan's book. But at it's heart this is the story of a marriage, a courtship, a pregnant bride, children, absences in pursuit of ambition, jealousy and temptation. In the telling, the author has found a voice that feels authentic without descent into mummery, making Cheapside as real in the mind's eye as Sheep Street. The language, in paragraph after paragraph, pins the image to the page. And the insight, the perception of what love is, underpins all.

If this suggests a reader carried away by a book, so be it. I doubt if I will read a better this year.