\u00a0<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEirQ9zLdTN7_Rw2xZZFaztBHMsX3l4qqKitqwxbdr-rhOA-WvxPNjLb_ERytR1NWOxYHK6rf86ghbZcKh0X4c5dl1ENl-2XTBvbGnTEbWPuUY8bF_74QskYeoCaXir2JVmEGy5Mwb7QKyDEScBqqhvzK5wNVRqyDMbwEPEIyvvZc0XmupRcYMK04deKnNxp\/s1280\/ARDEN%20COVER%20IMAGE.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nWe start 2025 by visiting the sixteenth century and meeting two remarkable people from the time, one of whom happens to be William Shakespeare. Arden<\/i> by G D Harper<\/b> was published on October 1st by Ginger Cat<\/b>. \u00a0The astonishing untold story of Shakespeare’s first William Shakespeare, England\u2019s greatest playwright, born This is a story of <\/span> Arden <\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n My Thoughts<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This has got my 2025 reading off to a cracking start. You are taken back to the sixteenth century in two different story threads which converge. Anne Arden’s life as a respectable gentlewoman is far from conventional and her homelife is challenging. From the outside, she has to appear respectable but the reality of her life is troubled. You feel the suffocating expectations of women which society enforces as she struggles to conform. Men,<\/b> it seems, can act as they want.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 William Shakespere (as he most likely spelt his name) is a young man with a wife and children to support. He has an impetuous side which leads him into trouble but he too is struggling to conform to his family’s expectations. Several decades separate the two story threads. You follow Will as he tries to learn the craft of the actor and the playwright. Full of period detail about the daily life of these two people, these are characters who emerge from the pages. Anne’s life becomes dangerous and treacherous and you can understand how Will is attracted to the drama of her life. From the start, you know that there is a grisly end in store for her. With some fascinating photographs and a thorough appendix of G D Harper’s research into the period, you are posed with the fascinating contention that an anonymous play could in fact be Shakespere’s first play.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In short:<\/i> drama, intrigue, infamy\u00a0\u00a0 About the Author<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n GD Harper<\/b> was the 2024 winner of the Next Generation Indie You can follow him at : Instagram<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Website<\/a>\u00a0 | Facebook: @gdharperauthor\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nplay<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n Arden, idealistic and wealthy beauty, burnt at the stake for killing
\nher husband, the former mayor of Faversham in Kent. But was she really
\nthe one responsible for the most scandalous murder of the sixteenth
\ncentury?<\/p>\n
\n thirteen years after Alice\u2019s execution. Why does his first-ever play,
\nwritten about this murder, not bear his name?<\/p>\n
\ntwo people \u2013 one reviled, one revered \u2013 whose fates become linked in a
\ntale of corruption, collusion and conspiracy. Based on historical
\ndocuments and recently published academic research, <\/p>\n
\n unveils shocking new evidence about the murder of Thomas Arden and
\nreveals, for the first time, a remarkable new theory about Shakespeare\u2019s
\n early years.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nAward<\/i> for historical fiction, shortlisted for the 2023 Selfies Book Award<\/i> at
\nthe London Book Fair, and longlisted or shortlisted for eight other literary
\nprizes.<\/span><\/p>\n