The Marlowe Papers
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
*WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE*
'Sharp, concise, stunningly visual' Sunday Times
On 30th May, 1593, a celebrated young playwright was killed in a tavern brawl in London. That, at least, was the official version of events. Now Christopher Marlowe reveals the truth: that his 'death' was an elaborate ruse to avoid being convicted of heresy; that he was spirited across the Channel to live on in lonely exile; that he continued to write plays and poetry, hiding behind the name of a colourless man from Stratford - one William Shakespeare.
With the grip of a thriller and the emotional force of a sonnet, this remarkable novel in verse gives voice to a man who was brilliant, passionate and mercurial. Memoir, love letter, confession, settling of accounts and a cry for recognition as the creator of some of the most sublime works in the English language, The Marlowe Papers brings Christopher Marlowe and his era to vivid life.
'The best book I've read for a long time. Truly innovative, truly original, and a powerful poetic journey to another truth' Benjamin Zephaniah
'Rich and charmingly playful' Sunday Telegraph
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Award-winning poet Barber's debut historical novel perpetuates the oft-told myth that Shakespeare's plays were really written by the dramatist Christopher Marlowe. Barber's fictionalized biography of Marlowe (1564 1593) cleverly reveals his adventurous life as a popular playwright and poet, love affairs with men and women, sordid spy missions for Queen Elizabeth, and a faked death to escape being hanged for heresy. Despite the book's being too long and written in tedious Elizabethan verse, Barber's skillful plotting makes the work's premise almost believable. Marlowe's friends concoct a wild scheme to fake his death in a fight in 1593, and Marlowe flees to Europe, forever exiled as a dead man. However, he has influential friends and continues to write plays as Shakespeare and spy on England's enemies, most notably Catholic conspirators plotting against the Protestants. Throughout this lengthy tale of plot and counterplot, Marlowe meets fascinating characters, sneaky spies and counterfeiters, gifted poets and playwrights, self-serving noblemen and vicious gutter-snipes. Barber's vivid portrayal of filthy, stinking London, the horror of the plague, the rampant and bloody religious intolerance, and the squalid daily life of 16th-century Europe are accurate and convincing.
