There is only one other novel that’s made me feel like The Fool’s Girls by Celia Rees did, as far as getting that ‘Stratford feeling’ goes, and that’s Jan Mark’s Stratford Boys.
The first sentence of the book is sheer genius for setting the tone of the whole story; ‘The Shakespeares had the builders in again’. You can’t know that it was the same in those days, but it’s quite fun to imagine that it was. It’s what makes you identify with Will Shakespeare and his parents and friends. No matter what century; we’re all the same. More or less.
16-year-old Will ends up writing, and putting on, a play with his friends, and various other more or less sane characters. It’s absolutely hilarious, and not everything goes wrong. In fact, by the end of the book Will is thinking ahead to ‘next time’. So it can’t have been too bad.
My kind of thing.
This is one of my very favourite Jan Mark books and thanks, Bookwitch for highlighting it here. It’s a great sadness that Jan Mark seems to have fallen out of popularity since her very sad early death. She was a most wonderful writer and I do urge all Bookwitch readers who don’t know her work to try it. You won’t regret it and she’s written enough for there to be something for every taste.
As for Celia’s book, it’s by my bed and as soon as I’ve finished the Lancashire Book Award books, it’s next on my list. Can’t wait.
I *love* Stratford Boys to bits and my son does too. It’s one of my top five Jan Mark books (who’s in my top five YA writers). It’s more ingenious than Shakespeare in Love for suggesting how Shakespeare began to develop his story-telling prowess and how themes in his plays became more prominent. I do wish that her books were more prominent on shop shelves and in reprints.
I can’t remember what I was looking for, but I looked Jan up recently, and found nothing, which is very sad.
Jam Mark was/is an absolutely brilliant writer, one of my favourites for many years, and thanks for reminding me I STILL HAVEN’T READ THIS ONE and a writer is never dead while their work lives.
And Celia’s book is excellent, by the way. Dark and excellent.
I talked to Jan about Stratford Boys a long time before I thought to write my own book about the same chap from Warwickshire. I read Jan’s book again when I was writing Fool’s Girl. Her scholarship was awesome but her writer’s touch deft and light. A very great loss to children’s books. Many new writers would be well advised to read her. We will not see her like again.
I haven’t read nearly enough of Jan’s books. And I never met her.
Even the stories written some time ago like Under The Autumn Garden are powerful reads, but you don’t forget reading The Ennead or Eclipse of the Century in a hurry. I have about thirty of her books, and re-read about ten of them regularly.
Well that made me feel inadequate.