“‘Writers
are insecure, temperamental beings, aren’t they? I daresay they’re more difficult
than queens.’ Maybe, but at least
writers keep their murders to the page.” George Carey to Toby
An Assassin’s
Guide to Love & Treason
A
Review by James Romano
Hello
1000 Bookies!! I hope you are all having
a great summer and of course reading. This
blog post takes us to Elizabethan England for a young adult fiction novel, An
Assassin’s Guide to Love & Treason by Virginia Boecker. Ms. Boecker has written several books
including The Witch Hunter series. Her latest novel was a fairly quick read,
with an interesting plot and many historical characters. The book is approximately
385 pages and is told from the perspective of the two main characters. If you like historical fiction and anything to
do with Shakespeare, this story is pretty good.
The storyline shares similarities to the Academy Award Winning movie, Shakespeare
In Love, specifically the novel is about the story within the writing
of a William Shakespeare play and performance.
The story also revolves around a woman dressed as a man to pursue a part
on the stage.
An
Assassin’s Guide to Love & Treason is my kind of book.
When I was in high school and college, my sister sarcastically referred
to me having a “type” of girl that I liked to date—usually they had blond hair,
blue eyes, etc. My sister meant this as
an insult but for this one time I took her caustic remark as a compliment, it meant
to me as I knew what I wanted. The same thing goes when I read fiction novels--I
have specific types that I enjoy, one of those types is historical fiction with
a love story and that is what An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason
has to offer. The story delivers what I like,
like a good dessert.
The
story is set in 1602 London during the latter years of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I. The story has several
historical characters such as William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, The Queen
and her advisors. Tudor England was a
time of great turmoil—between the reign of King Henry VIII and trials and tribulations
of his six wives to the beginning of the Anglican Church for want of a son,
from the Reign of Blood Mary Tudor and the Restoration of Catholicism to the
reign of Elizabeth and the religious wars of her reign. This was a turbulent time to say this least
always turning on the succession to the throne. Shakespeare wrote his plays during this very
turbulent period in history. Thus, any
period piece is always fascinating.
At the beginning
of the story, a cabal of Catholics were plotting against the Queen because her
spies and minions were hunting and killing them. A noble family in Cornwall, the Arundells
were serving the Queen but because they were secret in the closet Catholics
they were exposed. Once that happens, the
patriarch, Sir Richard is killed trying to run interference for his family and
servants. His daughter, Katherine, and
one servant escape. The servant is studying to be a priest. She takes some incriminating letters, money as
well as valuables and travels to London to meet with the other members of the
cabal, namely Robert Catesby, who would go on to be a part of the infamous 1605
Gunpowder Plot (under King James 1). There Katherine joins the Catholic group
and vows to obtain revenge for her father.
We meet
Toby, who wants to be a writer, however because of his apprenticeship with the
dead writer (and spy) Christopher Marlowe, Toby is an effective spy for the queen. He discovers and reports to Sir George Carey that
there is a Catholic plot to assassinate the Queen and replace her with a Catholic
relative. Carey acts as Toby’s handler and friend. Toby then develops an idea
to have a play written that would draw out Catholics and use the Queen as bait,
this would help catch them at one time. The
Queen’s men ask the renowned writer William Shakespeare to write the play. The play will be acted on Twelfth Night
(which is Epiphany or the Twelfth Day of Christmas) thus hence the name. Shakespeare has a role in the story; however,
Toby thinks that Marlowe was the better writer (he is a little biased). The character of Shakespeare appears vain and
an attention hog. This is sloppy and
there always seems to be angry at someone.
George
Carey ensures Shakespeare and Toby collaborate on this play, Twelfth
Night. My first encounter with Shakespeare was in freshmen English class
with the reading/viewing of Romeo and Juliet. What I remember most was how the student
teacher turned the tv/vcr around until the sex scene was over. However, the story was interesting. I next encountered the Bard during my sophomore
year in high school where I acted in a play, Brush Up Your Shakespeare
which showcased famous scenes from his plays, (I was in the Henry V
scene). After my first performance my
parents presented me for Christmas with Shakespeare’s Complete Works which
I proceeded to never read.
However,
Twelfth Night has a special place in my heart. I starred in a version of Twelfth Night
or Call It What You Will. I
played Orsino, the Duke of Illyria. Orsino is in love with a duchess/princess
named Olivia. Olivia is in love with Cesario
who is really a girl named Viola who is in love with the Duke. Viola has a twin brother named
Sebastian. If all this sounds familiar, it’s
the plot of the movie She’s the Man starring Amanda Bynes and
Channing Tatum. Twelfth Night
is a play of mistaken identity that ends with everyone married. The version I was in was my only starring role
ever. And let me tell you, I was not cut
out for acting. First, I was a terrible
actor. Second, I also had to sing a song
which I did…badly. Poor Mrs. Santoro,
the Chorus and Chorale teacher worked with me every day, but I was hopeless. I cannot carry a tune even in a bucket. Mrs. Santoro did have a great cameo in a
flashy purple tux jacket, with a rolling piano and hammed it up as I was
waiting to sing. But the play is quite cute,
my only lead role ever, and I loved it.
So, Katherine
tries out for The Chamberlain’s men (who were the actors in the major plays of
the times) and the new Shakespeare play. Women could not act on stage so like in Shakespeare
In Love, Katherine dresses like a man to get the part, which she does. Toby is cast as Orsino. He is assisting in the writing of the play
and investigating the actors. Toby was
not just Marlowe’s apprentice, but he was also his lover. Toby is bi-sexual which was punished by death
(like being a catholic) which is what is held over his head to make him
continue spying. He wants to earn enough
money to escape to France, because everyone wants to go to France most of the time
and write. Sounds good if you ask
me. I have dreamed of sitting in an attic
in Paris and writing. Like a reverse
Twelfth Night, Toby falls for Katherine who he believes is a man named Kit. Toby and Kit eventually become intimate and
he discovers she is not a man, something is definitely missing.
One of
the most interesting parts of the story was the emphasis on Twelfth Night as a
holiday. Today celebrating Epiphany has
disappeared in the culture of the United States entirely. We spend our time of advent getting ready for
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and by January 6th, the decorations
are down, the tree is at the dump and the kids have broken half of their new toys. In Europe this night is still
celebrated. La Bafana brings girls to
kids in France and Italy. In some places
the Wise Men are the gift givers. In England,
Twelfth Night seemed like Mardi Gras to close out the Christmas season. There were special foods and lots of
drinking. The art of gift giving came
through the Feast of the Epiphany and Twelfth Night. There also seems like a time of debauchery
and drinking, (where can I sign up!). The
author describes the revelry of the holiday very well; you can almost see yourself
drinking ale, eating a twelfth cake and kissing a pretty girl.
The
Assassins Guide to Love & Treason has it all a mystery, suspense, Shakespeare, a love
story and mistaken identity. If your
teenager is going to be studying Shakespeare this year in school, this might be
a fun book for them to enjoy this summer to get a flavor of the time with which
he wrote. Until Next Time…
Keep
Reading My Friends!!!!!
(Jim Romano in Twelfth Night in 1994)
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