Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon
London: Michael Joseph, 1941
In an anticipation of the plot of the film Shakespeare in Love, Lady Viola Compton disguises herself as a boy, becomes a player, and falls in love with Shakespeare. In this version of history, the fire at the Globe theatre is started deliberately by the jealous Edward Alleyn and Philip Henslowe, and the book ends with the Essex rebellion and the first night of Twelfth Night at Court; Francises Drake and Bacon also appear, the latter scheming to acquire a bed that the Queen has slept in (hence the title). The relentlessly hearty prose and the running joke about Shakespeare’s inability to spell his own name may not be to the taste of every reader. —SJJ