From the author of suspense thrillers The Ritual Bath (1986) and
Sacred and Profane (1987): a sprawling historical tale of a Jewish
maiden who enlists Shakespeare's aid in rescuing her father from
execution by the Queen. Rebecca Lopez, the radiant daughter of
Queen Elizabeth's court physician, causes trouble from the
beginning by her resistance to marriage - as well as by her
penchant for dressing as a man and wandering unaccompanied through
London's plague-ridden streets. Her family are Portuguese
"conversos" - Jews forced to convert to Christianity - who are
involved in smuggling other conversos from Iberia to the relatively
tolerant hills of England. The family's illegal activities make
Rebecca's rebelliousness all the more threatening, and her father
spends a good deal of time pleading with her to behave. But just as
Rebecca resigns herself to a practical marriage, she meets William
Shakespeare - while she's dressed as a man - and falls madly in
love. The Jewish heroine and Anglican playwright swear undying
devotion, but in fact neither can bear to desert their families and
elope. Instead, Rebecca proves her love by helping Shakespeare
wreak revenge on the man who killed his mentor, Harry Whitman,
while Shakespeare helps Rebecca hijack a boat to rescue her
betrothed from the hands of the murderous Spanish. When Rebecca's
father fails out of the Queen's favor and is condemned to die,
Rebecca must finally decide between romantic love and filial duty.
Though earnestly self-rightousness wherever religious issues
appear, Kellerman's latest does boast a number of amusing cameos -
in particular, Queen Elizabeth, an aging lesbian whose shrewd,
unsentimental outlook might have benefited the book as a whole.
Still, melodramatic but entertaining. (Kirkus Reviews)
1593: Elizabethan London seethes with political and religious
intrigue, while across the sea thousands perish in the flames of
the Spanish Inquisition. On the surface Roderigo, the Queen's
physician, is a loyal subject of the Crown but secretly he and his
family are Jewish conversos, hiding their illegal religion.
Rebecca, Roderigo's daughter, is torn between her duty - which
includes a loveless marriage to a converso - and her fascination
with the heady world of Elizabethan London. Slipping out of her
household one night, disguised as a man, Rebecca stumbles into a
swordfight with someone equally romantic and heedless: Will
Shakespeare, an ambitious young dramatist who, like Rebecca, has
secrets to conceal and mysteries to unravel. Together, they embark
on an adventure that plunges them into the sinks and stews of
Elizabethan England - and into the course of history itself...
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