LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
November 2017 Book of the Month
The title of course refers to Puck’s line in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Lo what fools these mortals be!”. It is a new period for Cornwell who is most famous for his Regency “Sharpe” series and more recently for the Viking Last Kingdom series. This has less battles and bloodshed, more intrigue and infighting, as William Shakespeare’s younger brother struggles to survive as an actor amid the squalor and splendour of Elizabethan London. He wants to grow up and “take men’s parts” in the plays but his youth and good looks keep seeing him cast as a girl, a dilemma peculiar to the period. I love Cornwell’s writing. His detail and characterisation well deserve the praise they so often receive. As I said this book is less bloody than many of his others. It is also set in a period more familiar to lovers of historical novels. It is wonderfully well-written and a must for his fans.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About Fools and Mortals
Fools and Mortals follows the young Richard Shakespeare, an actor struggling to make his way in a company dominated by his estranged older brother, William. As the growth of theatre blooms, their rivalry - and that of the playhouses, playwrights and actors vying for acclaim and glory - propels a high-stakes story of conflict and betrayal. Showcasing his renowned storyteller's skill, Bernard Cornwell has created an Elizabethan world incredibly rich in its portrayal: you walk the London streets, stand in the palaces and are on stage in the playhouses, as he weaves a remarkable story in which performances, rivalries and ambition combine to form a tangled web of intrigue.
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Fools and Mortals Synopsis
Fools and Mortals follows the young Richard Shakespeare, an actor struggling to make his way in a company dominated by his estranged older brother, William. As the growth of theatre blooms, their rivalry - and that of the playhouses, playwrights and actors vying for acclaim and glory - propels a high-stakes story of conflict and betrayal. Showcasing his renowned storyteller's skill, Bernard Cornwell has created an Elizabethan world incredibly rich in its portrayal: you walk the London streets, stand in the palaces and are on stage in the playhouses, as he weaves a remarkable story in which performances, rivalries and ambition combine to form a tangled web of intrigue.
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Press Reviews
Bernard Cornwell Press Reviews
Praise for Bernard Cornwell:
Like Game of Thrones, but real OBSERVER
Blood, divided loyalties and thundering battles THE TIMES
Strong narrative, vigourous action and striking characterisation, Cornwell remains king of the territory he has staked out as his own SUNDAY TIMES
A violent, absorbing historical saga, deeply researched and thoroughly imagined WASHINGTON POST
The best battle scenes of any writer I've ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive George R .R. Martin
Cornwell draws a fascinating picture of England as it might have been before anything like England existed THE TIMES
He's called a master storyteller. Really he's cleverer than that TELEGRAPH
A reminder of just how good a writer he is SUNDAY TIMES
Nobody in the world does this better than Cornwell Lee Child
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About Bernard Cornwell
Born in Essex in 1944 Bernard Cornwell was adopted at the age of six weeks by two members of a strict fundamentalist sect called the Peculiar People. He grew up in a household that forbade alcohol, cigarettes, dances, television, conventional medicine and toy guns. Not surprisingly, he developed a fascination for military adventure. As a teenager he devoured CS Forester’s Hornblower novels and tried to enlist three times. Poor eyesight put paid to his dream, instead he went to university to read theology. On graduating, he became a teacher, then joined BBC’s Nationwide, working his way up the ladder to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland, then editor of Thames News. In 1979, his life changed when he fell in love with an American.
"Judy couldn’t live here, so I gave up my job and moved to the US. I couldn’t get a green card, and for 18 months the only thing I could do was write novels." The result was his first book about 19th century hero, Richard Sharpe, Sharpe’s Eagle.
In addition to the hugely successful Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell is the author of the Starbuck Chronicles, the Warlord trilogy, the Grail Quest series, the Alfred series and standalone battle books Azincourt and The Fort.
Bernard Cornwell owns houses in Cape Cod and Florida and two boats. Every year he takes two months off from his writing and spends most of his time on his 24 foot Cornish crabber, Royalist.
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