Ruled Britannia

Starred review from October 21, 2002
Bestseller Turtledove (American Empire, etc.) buckles a handsome Elizabethan swash with his latest fascinating what if: suppose the Spanish Armada had beaten the Virgin Queen's little navy and reimposed on England the fanatic Roman Catholicism of Bloody Mary Tudor and her ruthless husband, Philip II of Spain. For almost a decade, the English have chafed under Philip's daughter Isabella and her Austrian consort, as well as the Inquisition, enforced by arrogant dons, their hired-gun Irish gallowglasses (rumored to be cannibals) and English Catholic sympathizers. Good Queen Bess languishes in the Tower of London while her supporters plot rebellion—to be sparked by no less than a patriotic new play by Will Shakespeare, Turtledove's lovingly drawn hero, who's drawn willy-nilly into the conspiracy by Elizabeth's former minister, Lord Burghley. The author revels in complex turns of language and spouts brilliant adaptations of the real Shakespeare's immortal lines. Superbly realized historical figures include the "darkly handsome," doomed Kit Marlowe and the Machiavellian Robert Cecil. Equally engaging are such lesser characters as the "cunning woman" Cicely Sellis, who "thinks of England." Turtledove has woven an intricate and thoroughly engrossing portrait of an era, a theatrical tradition, a heroic band of English brothers and their sneering overlords. O, brave alternative world that has such people in't! (Nov. 5)Forecast:The jacket, with a Spanish soldier in the foreground and the Spanish flag flying over the Tower of London in the background, neatly conveys the theme. A six-city author tour and an NPR interview campaign will help lure Shakespeareans who've never touched alternative history.

November 15, 2002
Since the Spanish Armada's successful invasion of England in 1588, Elizabeth I has languished as a prisoner in the Tower of London while Isabella, the daughter of Spain's King Philip II, rules the land. Against this background of religious and civil oppression, a struggling actor and playwright named William Shakespeare creates a drama that can either win England's freedom or secure his own death as a traitor. Alternate history's premier chronicler focuses on 16th-century Europe for his tale of personal heroism and the power of language. Turtledove's command of facts and his understanding of the period allow him to portray his characters with believability, while his prose, liberally salted with Shakespeare's own words, stands as a tribute to both the man and his work. Highly recommended.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2003
Adult/High School-Will Shakespeare, actor and author of popular plays, becomes embroiled in treason when English noblemen pressure him to write a play calculated to stir the people to rebellion. Meanwhile, Lope de Vega, a Don Juanish Spanish playwright, is under orders to sniff out treason and heresy, and he commands Will to write a play praising the Spanish monarch. What ensues is a suspenseful and fascinating tale of intrigue, loyalty and betrayal, and cultural conflict. Caught between two masters, Shakespeare can do nothing less than his best work for both-even though his lively imagination and inquiring intelligence constantly cause him personal and ethical challenges. The details of daily life and characters who reflect the cultural attitudes of a different time draw readers in. But more than that, the plot, people, and narrative devices would be comfortable in any of the Bard's plays: clowns and jesters, high and low comedy, a twin motif, and, perhaps most important, the dialogue-they all have a convincing Shakespearean ring. This complex tour de force brings his work and times to life, and readers who are carried along will feel, like the hero in the end, well rewarded and well satisfied.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2002
The dean of alternate historians weighs in again with a novel set far afield in time and space from his visions of a North America altered by Confederate victories. It is 1598, King Philip II of Spain is dying, and Elizabeth I of England is a Spanish prisoner in the Tower of London. Yes, the Armada won. But the Spanish have worn out their welcome, thanks to religious persecution and general bloody-mindedness, and struggling dramatist William Shakespeare is called on to write a play about the British heroine Boudicca as a call to rebellion against the Spanish. He is also commissioned to write a memorial piece for Philip of Spain, and assisting Will is Lope de Vega, aspiring Spanish playwright, not to mention ladies' man, who is rather too frequently present and, given Will's other circumstances, a lethal nuisance, however amiable. The scribblers aren't the only historical characters in this large cast, and the book is altogether dense and erudite, even for Turtledove. Fortunately, it is also one of his finest achievements, the first alternate-Armada novel to surpass Keith Roberts' " Pavane" (1968), full of scenes, such as Elizabeth's liberation from the Tower, that provoke tears, as well as of Turtledove's hallmark good humor. A thoroughly magisterial work of alternate history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)