Did a shunned Jewish woman of color write many of Shakespeare’s plays?
A young woman seals a secret pact with Shakespeare bringing her plays into the world but the acclaim to him, yet she embeds subtle clues pointing to her authorship and imperiling her life.
Shakespeare’s Conspirator
The Woman, The Writer, The Clues
by Steve Weitzenkorn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Brimming with intrigue, SHAKESPEARE'S CONSPIRATOR shatters beliefs about the world's greatest playwright. Did he really write the thirty-seven plays credited to him?
It's 1587. Shakespeare is struggling to launch his career. Finally he persuades James Burbage, a theater owner, to stage Henry VI. He's the same proprietor who refused to look at Amelia Bassano's comedic script. Infuriated after being blocked at every turn, she reluctantly seals a secret pact with Shakespeare.
So begins a fiery relationship that triggers suspicions, plots to expose them, and grave dangers.Craving recognition and ways to break through, Amelia pursues illicit relationships with Elizabethan luminaries while becoming a controversial advocate for women.
Scandals and complications follow as her life takes dreadful turns. When Shakespeare pressures her to write a soul-tormenting script, she fears being exposed as a hidden Jew, a felony in Elizabethan England. Undeterred, she embeds hints to her authorship and true identity in Shakespeare's plays. But not everyone is deceived.
In this captivating story, the web of secrets and trail of clues reveals a perilous and cloaked Shakespearean world.
REVIEWERS HAVE CALLED SHAKESPEARE’S CONSPIRATOR:
“A STUNNING ACHIEVEMENT.”
“A MUST READ ON THE TRUE AUTHORSHIP OF SOME OF SHAKESPEARE’S GREATEST WORK.”
“AN HISTORICAL WHO-WROTE-IT,” “ENTHRALLING,” “LOVINGLY RESEARCHED.“
“A TRIBUTE TO A STRONG AND CREATIVE JEWISH WOMAN.”
SHAKESPEARE’S CONSPIRATOR
EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 9
Will settled back down and nodded his goblet toward her. “How is your play about the two sets of twins?”
Emilia believed he already knew the answer. She cleared her throat. “Using your phrase, I’m calling it A Comedy of Errors, but…” Her lips turned downward as she continued. “I’ve gone to every theater owner, but none will look at it.”
Tears welled in Emilia’s eyes, and she dabbed them with a linen handkerchief.
“Do they say why?” asked Will.
“Some do, some don’t. One claimed a play by a woman wouldn’t attract audiences, which is curious since there’s never been one. But there’s also an unstated reason.”
“Which is?”
Emilia stared through the rain-streaked window and gathered her courage to admit the truth. “I’m not well thought of among theater people. I shan’t go into details but my reputation has been sullied.”
“I won’t inquire, but I’ve heard rumors…about another playwright.”
Emilia swallowed hard, relieved he didn’t mention names. She didn’t wish to talk about Marlowe. An awkward silence filled the space between them. Yet she could tell Will’s mind was working furiously.
“What are you thinking?”
He coughed, making a dismissive wave. “It’s nothing.”
“Will, say it. You can be blunt.”
“I’m searching for the right words so I don’t offend you.”
Emilia took another sip of ale. “I’ll be more offended if you don’t tell me.”
Will still hesitated and spoke as if he chose his words carefully. “There are certain barriers that aren’t coming down. That means if you want your play performed, you’ll need to make a reluctant choice.”
“Will, what are you saying?”
Will shifted in his chair, grimacing as if struggling to broach his idea with her. “Emilia, I’ll be plain. I doubt men’s attitudes toward women will change. They’re deeply implanted. So—and this was the mad thought that occurred to me—why not use a man’s name as the author? Then your script would receive due consideration.”
Emilia recoiled at the artifice. “You’re suggesting I use a male alias like Emil Bassano or some other contrived appellation?”
“It could work.”
“It might, but if every woman did, we’d never be recognized for notable work. Our genders should not matter.”
Will shrunk back in his seat, looking pained. “Everything you say is true, bringing me to the point I wished to make earlier, which would solve those practical problems but create other risks.”
Emilia planted her elbows on the table. “And that is?”
“To get Burbage’s true reaction, what if, with your assent, I showed him your script without any name on it? If he responds favorably, then we’ll discuss our next moves.”
Emilia saw the value of that approach. “That’s an intriguing idea. But if he likes it, then what?”
“It will depend on his reaction,” said Will.
Emilia fidgeted with uncertainty, reluctant to lose control over her work. “I have little to lose, I suppose.”
“Emilia, it’s worth trying. Can you bring the script here tomorrow?”
Emilia paused, assessing Will. She believed him to be sincere and fair-minded. He wasn’t sinister like Marlowe, who would have a concealed motive. I’ll trust him and see. Only then will I know. “I’ll bring it, but I’ll need it back.”
***
Emilia paced the streets near the Horn waiting for Will. Her leather chopines had rubbed her ankles sore. The two-inch wooden soles and heels were caked with crud from stepping off curbs into sloppy, potholed roads. Horses and carriages splattered mud on her black skirt. But Emilia thought only about Will’s meeting with Burbage, paying little attention to where she walked. She passed the Horn again and saw Will approaching from the opposite direction, looking downcast.
“Burbage wants A Comedy of Errors,” he announced matter-of-factly.
Something’s wrong, Emilia sensed. Why isn’t he pleased?
“Let’s talk inside,” suggested Will.
They found a window table that two laborers had vacated. Will ordered ale for them both.
“Will, don’t keep me in suspense.”
“Burbage likes the novel theme and plot. He thinks it will draw sizeable audiences...”
Will’s tone is flat, devoid of emotion. Something’s not right. “Does he know who penned it?”
Will hung his head and put his fist to his mouth.
“What is it, Will?”
“Burbage assumed I wrote it. He said I should be confident enough to say so.”
Oh no! Is Will stealing my work? “What did you say?”
“I didn’t correct him.”
Emilia jumped to her feet, folding her arms across her chest. I didn’t expect treachery! “I trusted you! You didn’t tell the truth?”
England, 1587: A young William Shakespeare persuades a theater owner to stage Henry VI––the same one that refuses to look at Emilia Bassano's play because she’s a women. Blocked at every turn, she reluctantly agrees to let Shakespeare submit her scripts under his name, but at what cost?
Emilia’s plays propel Shakespeare’s success, which sparks envy and suspicion from a fledgling playwright after he detects clues embedded in the scripts that point to her authorship. She faces threats and grave dangers as a biracial, half-Jewish woman believed to be abetting Shakespeare’s deception. In contrast to the belittlement and injustices women face, she portrays their strengths, intelligence, and savvy through her characters, storylines, and poetry.
Emilia Bassano Lanyer is most accomplished writer you’ve never heard of. Until now.
Waldemar Haffkine: The Man Who Saved Millions of Lives but the World Forgot
Steve Weitzenkorn
At the end of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century, Waldemar Haffkine, a zoologist and microbiologist, developed the vaccines that inoculated millions of people all over the world against cholera and the bubonic plague. His large human trials took place in British-controlled India. His reputation, once maliciously destroyed, is now being resurrected by Paul Twivy, a British strategist, advertising executive, and author. Perhaps, Waldemar Mortimer Haffkin will receive the posthumous credit and recognition he has long been due.
In Paris, Haffkine developed his cholera vaccine and tested it first on guinea pigs, rabbits, and pigeons. Then he risked his own life by injecting himself with attenuated cholera. He was feverish for several days before he fully recovered. Next, he inoculated three Russian friends and other volunteers with the same result.
Then he travelled to India, a country teeming with cholera, to test his vaccine more widely. His British colleagues belittled his work, unable to believe that cholera could be prevented through the injection of a cholera microbe. To prove that it could, Haffkine vaccinated over a hundred villagers in a remote area. Only those who did not receive the injection died of the disease.
When the bubonic plague spread from China to British Hong Kong and then to Bombay. The British government downplayed its seriousness until it swept through the dense slums with a mortality rate double that of cholera. Heffkine was summoned to help. Inside a tiny lab and with a few untrained helpers, he began working on the world's first plague vaccine.
After much experimentation, Haffkine successfully inoculated rabbits against an attack of the plague. Then, again, he inoculated himself. He recovered from a bad fever after a few days. When the plague tore through a Bombay prison, Heffkine inoculated 147 of 319 prisoners. None of the vaccinated prisoners died while several in the control group did.
British doctors grew envious of Heffkine’s success for three reasons. Heffkine was proving them wrong. He wasn’t a medical doctor. And he was Jewish. So, what did they do? They went to extraordinary efforts to discredit and ruin him.
Heffkine was known for being precise and methodical. When nineteen people he vaccinated died of tetanus in 1902, the skeptical doctors jumped on it, accusing him of injecting them with dirty needles. The real cause, as the doctors who accused him knew at the time, came from an assistant’s neglect to sterilize a vail stopper that had fallen onto the ground. But they buried that fact and falsified evidence. Why? Antisemitism coupled with jealousy is the leading theory.
The British doctors didn’t stop with an accusation. They had Heffkine tried by a British Raj court, which did their bidding. The three judges had been influenced and prejudiced against Heffkine. They wanted him to fail. Paul Twivy writes that this travesty of justice “deserves to be one of the most famous mistrials in history.”
Afterward, Heffkine returned to Britain. However, by this time he had successfully inoculated over 42,000 people.
Joseph Lister (1827-1912), a leading scientist known as the “father of modern surgery,” called Heffkine “a saviour of humanity brought down by racist doctors within the British Raj.” But his praise and recognition of Heffkine was dutifully ignored.
In 1930, Haffkine died alone in Switzerland. While honored in India, where the Heffkine Institute in Mumbai is named for him, he was largely forgotten in the west.
Paul Twivy said: “There is no doubt that we would not have survived pandemics without Haffkine, even though he’s not known. He developed vaccines against two of the biggest killers ever. He is literally the most important scientist in terms of the number of lives he saved. But he is almost invisible outside of microbiology. A lot of scientists don’t even know his name. He’s been eliminated from history.”
Waldemar Haffkine has been lost in the sweep of history despite all his contributions. Hopefully his accomplishments and dedication to saving lives will now be recognized.
I write historical fiction that challenges assumptions and provides fresh insights into the events of prior centuries, legendary figures, and people overlooked in the sweep of time. My first novel, Shakespeare’s Conspirator, has been optioned by a celebrity-owned production company in LA. It imagines the life of Emilia Bassano Lanyer, a real woman who may have written several plays attributed to Shakespeare. I’ve also written a prequel and sequel that delves in to the Shakespeare authorship mystery. With any luck, all may be coming to a screen near you.
My writing journey began as I was winding down my career as an organizational behavior consultant and co-authored a book on teamwork and leadership. As an avid reader, I became intrigued by curious fact patterns inconsistent with commonly-held beliefs, that I, like many others, assumed were true. When I realized the logic of those assumptions did not always hold up to close scrutiny, and experts had dug trenches around their own theories, I launched into my own research. Fascinating stories emerged and my imagination took over.
Since most people don’t read academic material, I reasoned that a compelling way to convey the evidence and challenge beliefs was to depict real and fictional characters dropping the bread crumbs, or following them, in reality-based historical fiction. In my novels, characters uncover and discuss clues through intriguing plots that track with historical chronologies—allowing readers to form their own conclusions.
My most recent published novel delves into the Spanish Inquisition, the trauma it created, and the life-changing decisions it triggered. Two other historical novels are in the pipeline. In one, the protagonist discovers her family’s hidden past while alternate chapters track her ancestor’s journey over hundreds of years.
I have also co-authored two non-fiction books: The Catalyst Effect: 12 Skills to Boost Your Impact and Elevate Team Performance and Find-Fulfill-Flourish about discovering one’s purpose.
I have a dry sense of humor along with a Ph.D. in Human Learning and Organizational Behavior. I’ve been honored with the William C. Byham Award for Innovation and Excellence in Training Technology and the Henkel Award for Global HR Excellence. I have served on the boards of nonprofit organizations and as president of two. I enjoy mentoring, teaching, presenting, volunteering, and learning in any way possible.
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Im looking forward to checking this book out. Thanks for sharing.
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