I almost quit this book just a few pages in...and then a couple of times after that. This author reminds me of Kristen Hannah; people rave about them, yet their writing and their plots are just mundane. Not anything uplifting or striving for good. Just mostly fluff. And always about wronged women... Am I in too many book clubs? Or the wrong ones? This is for the Monterey club, my neighbor Sandy's group. Their taste is not impressive!
One reason I almost quit is the rather rough and frequent sexual episodes. And the uneven and yet somehow predictable development of the characters. The two main characters are relatives, women, generations apart, yet their lives parallel each other in interesting ways. Emilia needs an outlet for her writing, but can't publish them as a woman; Melina seems to have the same problem in modern day.
Both struggle for their work to be accepted; both have men in their lives through whom they publish. And I can understand that I may not understand the worlds of either woman, both make such terrible decisions that it's hard to want to read about them.
One aspect of the story that seems worth reading about and seems to be well-documented, is the research on whether or not Shakespeare wrote virtually ANY of the plays and poetry attributed to him. Picoult makes a good case, well-documented with sources, of the speculation that Shakespeare was really just an actor, and that there were most likely multiple authors of his canon. And this Emilia Bassano seems a likely candidate for many of them, considering her education and background, neither of which did Shakespeare have!
The author also frequently quotes Shakespeare and intersperses these quotes throughout the book and the dialogue. However, the dialogue between the characters of the time speak mostly just like us. It's hard to take such a disparity seriously!
