King of Shadows by Susan Cooper was first published in 1999 and it’s described as being ‘A magical adventure bringing Shakespeare to life’.
It begins in America where a company of young would-be actors have been picked for The Company of Boys, they’ve been chosen from youth theatres, schools and companies across the country. It’s a tough regime but there’s a great incentive to succeed as those chosen will be acting on stage at the Globe in London, the rebuilt theatre associated with Sheakespeare’s acting company. They’ll be putting on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Nathan Field is thrilled to be chosen for the London trip, but almost as soon as he gets to London he falls ill with a fever and ends up in hospital, delirious.
The time slips to 1599 where Nat is now a young actor at the original Globe, learning the trade. He’s on loan from St Paul’s School and some in the company are a bit jealous of him and make life difficult. But Will Shakespeare himself notices Nat, he’s having some difficulty fitting into 16th century London and has to think on his feet at times.
I really like books which feature Shakespeare so I enjoyed this one which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
I’ve always loved Susan Cooper’s novels, though I haven’t read this one!
Katrina, I’d like to give you a gentle nudge to participate in the Twenty Books of Summer this year, just as you gave me the nudge last year. I was so grateful for it!
Thank you!
I am doing it this year, I will list 20 books, though I imagine I won’t be able to read all twenty, given the full-time nature of my work at the moment. I was thinking I’d like to work part-time–just not working out that way so far, which is okay, really!
Okay, so pull your list together before you head off to the Netherlands!
Judith,
I’m glad you enjoyed it last year, I’ll be compiling my list soon. June is just galloping up so incredibly fast and I hadn’t really given it any thought, I certainly have plenty of books to choose from!
I started this recently and got distracted! Maybe I can finish it later this month. Glad you enjoyed it. I think Susan Cooper’s non-Dark is Rising books get overlooked.
Constance,
I listened to The Dark is Rising on a BBC podcast, the first time I’ve done that. I was really distracted by all the sound effects and music. I could hardly hear the dialogue. The special effects department certainly had a whale of a time!
I love Cooper’s Dark is Rising sequence but I’ve never read any further. This sounds very tempting though…
kaggsysbookishramblings,
I haven’t read those books although I did listen to them on the BBC podcast. I think I would prefer to actually read them, sometime in the future. I really liked King of Shadows.