Description

A girl like me, more nimble of mind than finger, what am I to do?
Hide my wit in a half-penny purse, and smile all day long?

Boils and plagues! Thirteen-year-old Susanna Shakespeare longs for something exciting to happen in her quiet, dusty village of Stratford, England. Her father, Will, is off in London, working on new plays. Susanna yearns to be a part of that world, but girls aren't allowed to perform in the theater, or even attend school. Narrow-minded knaves! Susanna refuses to turn into a good-for-nothing lackwit and begins keeping a journal, hoping something will deliver her from her dull life.

When her uncle gets into trouble with the Master of Revels, Susanna is whisked off to London to help. Suddenly her stage is set for adventure . . . and romance.

Swan Town offers an unconventional glimpse into the life of the famed Bard's family in Elizabethan England, as seen through the eyes of Shakespeare's spirited daughter.

About the Author

Michael J. Ortiz teaches, writes, hunts, cooks, and tends an herb garden in Maryland with his wife and their four children. He has degrees from Saint Anselm College and Georgetown University. He believes all attempts to deny Shakespeare authorship of his plays and poems are beef-witted slanders of historical proportions. Swan Town is his first novel.

Praise for Swan Town: The Secret Journal of Susanna Shakespeare…

“Ortiz captures the look and feel and smell of the far-off world that was late 16th-century England.”
-Washington Post Book World

“A rich view of Shakespeare’s life and times.”
-Booklist