A Warwickshire Lad

At five years old, Will Shakespeare knows men aren’t afraid—until dusk, a witch’s charm tickles down his back and the shadows begin to move.

In December, in the Shakespeare household on Henley Street, little Will hurries home from Gammer Gurton’s fireside with tales of bewitched maids, tailless cats and other alarming signs. His mother laughs off the village’s fears, but Will is not quite convinced; when a shadow stirs in the dark, he scuttles back to her side. Then his father comes in with news of players—and a glimpse of a wider world beyond the warm, watchful home. George Madden Martin’s imagined boyhood of Shakespeare begins with a child learning what frightens him, what makes him laugh, and what might call him away. What will Will make of the players?

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