Hesse Phillips' visceral and inventive debut novel is the culmination of ten years' careful academic research and imaginative storytelling. Phillips' passion for Christopher Marlowe's short and blazing life and career, and for the Elizabethan era at large, pleasingly combine to create an early modern thriller of espionage, forbidden passion and deception.
The novel plunges the reader into the raucous, vibrant backdrop of England's early theatre scene and the dark, perilous streets of 16th-century London. Religious affiliations are tested with deadly consequences, conspiracies are hunted with shrewd subtlety, and close bonds of friendship and love are challenged with unforgiving deeds.
Throughout the world of Phillips' tale, we witness the impact of 'Kit Marlowe' on his audiences, admirers and enemies. Phillips depicts Kit with sparkling characterisation, carefully balancing Marlowe's genius and recklessness, arrogance and sensitivity, and perspicacity with sheer ignorance of the political machinations at play, inevitably leading to his downfall and premature end.
Chapters are helpfully interspersed with insightful quotes from historians, academics and authors throughout the centuries, who have all tried to piece together the facts, suppositions and many mysteries surrounding the life and death of one of Britain's most admired dramatists. Phillips cleverly weaves many of Marlowe's characters and famous lines into the narrative, whilst managing to create a story which grips its reader with gruesome Elizabethan tortures, sinister political whisperings, and painful and desperate assignations.
This book is the perfect companion for anybody with an interest in Shakespeare and his contemporaries, Tudor England or inventive historical fiction.
Reviewed by Sammy (Visitor Operations Assistant)
