The Shakespeare Secret

William Shakespeare is among the most important authors in history, and his works endure to this day. There has been some speculation about his authorship—a fringe theory, but one that inspires a fascinating new novel, The Shakespeare Secret by D.J. Nix.

Here, it is late 1591 when three women of different social class happen to meet and commiserate over their shared dislike of a play they just saw. They think they could write something better, something that represents women characters better. Thus a plot is born to write plays, but they need a man’s name to publish them under. And even with Will Shakespeare’s agreement, they still face scrutiny from the queen’s spies as speculation of treasonous plots threatens their lives.

What I Liked:

• Three women creating together. As unlikely as this trio is (Mary, a countess; Emilia, a musician and mistress of a noble; and Jane, a seamstress), I love their shared feelings about how women are portrayed in plays and their desire to writing something better. They form a sisterhood, lift each other up despite their differences, and shield each other from dangerous scrutiny.
• Better representation of women. The plays Mary, Emilia, and Jane write aim to offer a more layered and complex portrayal of female characters. They call out the hypocrisy of society and do so with witty dialogue. Their plays easily surpass those of the male playwrights. If only 16th-century women were allowed to be playwrights, too!
• Will Shakespeare’s role. He’s more interested in being a poet than a playwright, but he’s happy to put out plays under his name. He doesn’t know who the true authors are, but I enjoyed seeing his role in everything that unfolds here.
• Spies, plots, and treason! It’s not only dangerous for women to dare to write plays; it’s dangerous if their clandestine meetings are misconstrued as something more threatening. Spies and politics add a sense of urgency and danger when all these women want to do is write smart and diverting plays.

Final Thoughts

The Shakespeare Secret is such a fun and thoughtful novel that reimagines the authorship behind William Shakespeare’s plays. I love the focus on women achieving more and changing how society is able to view women through their art. This novel is engrossing and perfect for fans of Shakespeare, Elizabethan era England, and a strong dose of feminism.

Special thanks to David Nix, Alcove Press, Austenprose PR, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy The Shakespeare Secret here – it’s available as a hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

The Shakespeare Secret by D.J. Nix
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction
Setting	England
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	July 29, 2025
Publisher	Alcove Press

Official Summary

Shakespeare is a woman—three women, in fact, who hire a footloose actor as the face of their writing. When they become suspects in a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth, their secret identity is suddenly at risk—along with the queen’s life—in this imaginative historical novel for fans of Hamnet and The Tower.

Everyone knows of William Shakespeare, the rakish former actor and famous playwright. But few know the three women writing every word of his plays: Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, a frustrated poet; Emelia Bassano, a court musician with a passion for complex stories; and Jane Daggett, a seamstress with an impressive ability to spin fantastic plots. Frustrated by the patriarchal restrictions of their sixteenth-century society, they come together to write anonymously. 

Soon the three women come under the scrutiny of one of the Queen’s spies, who notices their surreptitious meetings and odd behavior and suspects they are involved in an ongoing plot to kill the Queen. To help guard their secret as they face inquisition, they hire an actor named Will Shakespeare to be the face of their endeavor and divert attention. 

As the plague deepens its grip on London and the Queen’s man traces their every move, the women are forced to choose between admitting what they’ve done and betraying each other to the Crown or hiding the truth at risk of endangering the Queen herself. 

The Shakespeare Secret is a  thrilling feminist tale of perseverance, justice, and freedom where friendship and trust are put to the test, for fans of Tracy Chevalier and Charlie Lovett.