My Father Had a Daughter: Judith Shakespeare's Tale by Grace Tiffany

From the Publisher

In this wonderfully inventive novel, Grace Tiffany weaves fact with fiction to bring Judith Shakespeare to vibrant life. Through Judith's eyes, we glimpse the world of her famous playwright father: his work, his family, and his inspiration.

Publishers Weekly

An ordinary girl seeks revenge on her celebrated father in Tiffany's debut, a fictionalized "memoir" by the Bard's youngest daughter, Judith. From earliest childhood, Judith and twin brother Hamnet are in awe of their "da," "the scribbling one," whose rare visits to their Stratford home bring tales of London playhouses and fairy queens. When Hamnet accidentally drowns during a game Judith proposes, she is guilt stricken; when she finds her grief used as material for Twelfth Night, she blames her absentee father. "Why should I not steal to London and shame him?" she asks rhetorically. Now a big, gawky 14-year-old, she arrives in London disguised as "Castor Popworthy," determined to sabotage the play's opening night. But as Judith infiltrates her father's state-of-the-art Globe Theater, she's swept up by the joys of playacting, hobnobbing with such legendary thespians as Richard Burbage, Will Kemp and the dangerously attractive Nathan Field, who demands her "maidenhead" to safeguard her secret . These London scenes, though wildly implausible, provide a brisk and vivid introduction to Elizabethan theater. But when "da" finally figures out that his new Viola is none other than his daughter and grimly ships her back to Stratford, Tiffany has nowhere to go with Judith's character. Unlike the tragic, talented "Judith Shakespeare" Virginia Woolf imagined so memorably in A Room of One's Own, Tiffany's character merely ages, mired in adolescent angst and gender confusion. Despite the use of Elizabethan flourishes, her language is often jarringly modern ("post-play pride," "stylized"). But what's most contemporary is Tiffany's assumption that readers will be interested in one more tell-all account by the neglected offspring of a celebrity parent. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Fans of British historical fiction and Shakespeare lovers alike will enthusiastically welcome Tiffany's debut novel about the life of William Shakespeare's daughter, Judith. Shakespeare's children hardly knew him, since his work left him little time to spend at their home in Stratford. A terrible tragedy strikes the family when Judith is 11 years old, and shortly after she is enraged to find her father seemingly mock her grief in a scene from his newest play. She devises a plan to run away to London disguised as a boy and sabotage the production. Once there, Judith is seduced by the magic of theater, discovering that she has a talent for acting. She is sent home when her father learns of her masquerade but continues to defy society's conventions by seeking employment and refusing to marry. Tiffany has created an audacious and astute young woman-very much like the heroines of Shakespeare's plays-and presents a view of the life and psyche of the playwright that is unparalleled and fascinating. Her richly detailed portrayal of Elizabethan England and a woman's place in it is enthralling. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Karen T. Bilton, Somerset Cty. Lib., Bridgewater, NJ Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Nonfiction Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Shakespeare is hot, a fact shown not long ago by the success of Shakespeare In Love. Now Tiffany debuts with a strange little fantasy spotlighting the Bard’s daughter Judith. Shakespeare had three children by Anne Hathaway: first Susanna, then the twins Judith and Hamnet, Hamnet dying, from unknown causes, while a child. Author Tiffany, English professor and Shakespearean specialist, has invented a drowning for him to launch her tale. The boy is Judith’s ideal playmate in their wildly imaginative games, while in the background is their volatile mother, chafing at William’s long absences in London, which so distress Hamnet that Judith casts a spell to bring her father home. The spell calls for dunking themselves in the Avon, which causes Hamnet’s accidental drowning. Judith is overwhelmed by guilt, then by rage at her father after finding a discarded scroll of Twelfth Night. She concludes he’s exploiting Hamnet’s death: and this calls for his exposure, and for her public atonement. So, at 14, Judith steals away to London. Still flat-chested, she changes into boy’s clothes, finds a job at a tavern, and lands a bit part with her father’s company. All this happens with a dreamlike ease, a fast pace and a jaunty tone helping mask the many improbabilities. When the older boy actor Nathan Field threatens to expose her as a girl, she buys his silence by sacrificing her virginity, all in a day’s work for this bold lass. She then tricks Nathan out of the part of Viola and has her moment of glory at the Globe before her father recognizes her and returns her to Stratford. The great adventure of Judith’s life now over, the story runs out of steam: Its final third covers her quiet life back home andmarriage, years later, to a local vintner. Engaging enough to whet the appetite of those readers unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s family life and times, but there’s no meat here for the more sophisticated. Book-of-the-Month Club/Literary Guild alternate selection. Agent: Carolyn French/Fifi Oscard Agency

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