Though the Bard's language infuses the story with life, the emotions underlying the lovers' ruptures and reunions feel repetitive, and because there is never any question about how the romance plays out, the central narrative feels flat. The novel's chief pleasures derive from the easy intersection of Shakespeare's work, the history of Elizabethan England and the life that the author imagines Shakespeare might have had.

When Will is forced into marriage with Anne Hathaway, Anne Whateley flees to London and throws herself into her family's business, but the two reunite when Will arrives in London, and Anne becomes his tireless promoter. Friends from childhood driven apart by their families' antipathy, Will and Anne rediscover each other as they come of age, and the young lovers plan to wed in spite of their families' disapproval. A delicious and intriguing historical novel about the woman who was William Shakespeares secret wife, by New York Times bestselling author, Karen Harper. Dark-haired and strong-willed, Elizabethan beauty Anne Whateley takes up her pen to divulge the intimate. A delicious and intriguing historical novel about the woman who was William Shakespeare s secret. Harper's slack latest takes this mystery as its subject, imagining Anne Whateley as Shakespeare's only true love. Mistress Shakespeare audiobook, by Karen Harper. Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper available in Hardcover on, also read synopsis and reviews.

Yet several days later, William Shakespeare married a pregnant Anne Hathaway. Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper, 2009, Penguin USA, Inc. On November 27, 1582, the Worcester archives show a grant for a marriage license for one Anne Whateley and her groom, Wm Shaxpere.