Mel has written a play about her ancestor, Emilia, who is the true author of many of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry. Both Mel and Emilia are forced to hide behind men’s names to see their writing be accepted into the theater, even centuries apart. Told in alternating points of view, these ancestor’s stories share parallels despite being set in completely different times.

As a huge fan of Jodi Picoult, I was very honored to receive an early copy of her newest novel to review. This book is different from her usual work as it is historical fiction. It’s clearly very well researched and compelling. I want to know more about the question of Shakespeare being the true author of his work and I highly recommend reading Jodi’s author note at the end about her research process. I highly recommend this book. It will make you think, reconsider history, and question how we view gender roles in history and in the present.


Thank you to Jodi Picoult, Random House Ballantine, and Netgalley for the opportunity to be an early reviewer.

This was a great book! I very much enjoyed it and I look forward to reading the author’s next work! Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

I had a hard time starting this book but once I started reading it was definitely worth the read.
Apparently centuries ago authors paid others to write their plays,books and poetry. William Shakespeare being one of them. One thing that is still in common is that women aren’t always recognized for the work they have created and sell their work in exchange for a percentage of the profit.
In 1581 Emilia had the advantage that even though she was a mistress she has access to the theatre and can secretly find her way to publish her work.
Four hundred years later Melinda and her roommate Andre turn in work under the name Mel to make others think it’s a play from a male. Things backfired for Melinda but in the end she finally succeeds.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing for the opportunity to give a honest review.

I have consistently admired Jodi Picoult's writing and enjoy reading historical fiction. It is evident that Jodi Picoult is an exceptional writer who invests a significant amount of time in researching for her books.
Regrettably, this particular book did not resonate with me as much as her other works. While I found Emilia's life story more engaging than Melina's, I must admit that a considerable portion of the book failed to captivate my interest. Additionally, as someone who is not particularly fond of Shakespeare, I found the length of the book to be excessive.
Despite this, I remain a loyal fan of Jodi Picoult and will continue to recommend her books to others.
Rating: 3.5 stars
#ByAnyOtherName #NetGalley

This book was incredible! I didn’t really know much about Shakespeare or the controversy surrounding authorship, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. I could not put it down! I loved Emilia’s chapters best but the alternating viewpoints were enjoyable and added to the novel.

SYNOPSIS
- Melina Green is an aspiring playwright. Unfortunately, the theatre world often overlooks female writers. Despite this, she has written a play that shines a light on the life of her ancestor, Emilia Bassano. Melina chose to write about Emilia after doing in-depth research and discovering she may have been the writing of some of Shakespeare’s works. In fact, Shakespeare may not have written any of his own work.
- Due to the bias against female playwrights, Melina's best friend, Andre, submits the play to a festival under a false male name to increase its chances of being recognized and selected for production.
- The book alternates between Melina’s situation in the present day and Emilia’s life in the 1500s.

MY THOUGHTS
- Jodi Picoult is an excellent writer, and she is an automatic read for me. This book is different than her other books, and honestly, it wasn’t my favorite of hers that I’ve read.
- Picoult did a ton of research, and I enjoyed reading the Author’s Note at the end.
- I liked learning about the Shakespeare’s authorship question & how hard it has been for women playwrights.
- I am also a big Broadway theatre fan, so it made me consider how often certain playwrights are selected.
- I enjoyed the overall plot, the premise, and the different POVs. But, I thought the story dragged. I think this could have told in significantly less pages & better execution.
- This is also a personal preference, but I like it when books are organized in shorter chapters. It flows better IMO. Here, the sections are SO long. It is daunting. I wish they were broken up differently.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3.5 rounded to 4. Historical fiction. Very solid premise, plot, & topic, but IMO it dragged & the execution could have been a lot better. Nevertheless, Picoult is an amazing writer!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on August 20, 2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

From Jodi Picoult comes another story of a strong female character. There are the rumors, theories, and legends of the real authors behind Shakespeare’s plays, and one particular of his Dark Lady.

This is the story Emilia Bassano who is thought to be his dark lady. Yes, it is about Shakespeare’s plays with a lot of Easter Eggs hidden throughout. But, told in two timelines, then and now, it is a story of her life during the Elizabethan era.

I love books. I love theater. This hit my favorite spots.

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I love this author, she is one of my very favorite authors. I loved this book, which is big, because I am not a fan of Shakespeare. I learned a lot from this book about theater, authors, and English History. This is not a subject I would have chosen, but this book was very engaging, and it expanded my knowledge!!!
I love when a book brings you to a place you never fully understood.

"By Any Other Name" by Jodi Picoult
Is now included on my list of favorite reads. Picoult reminds us of how far we've come while sharing challenges that still remain. The quote, “Even if you do not feel the shade of the tree you planted, others will,” beautifully encapsulates the novel's exploration of legacy and the ripple effects of our actions. As the story unfolds, readers may find themselves emotionally invested as did I. Parts of this story were difficult for me to read. I shed tears for the protagonists. Yet, amidst the heartache, there is a sense of hope and resilience, urging us to reflect on our own paths and the legacy we wish to leave behind. Picoult's masterful storytelling and thought-provoking themes make "By Any Other Name" a compelling read that leaves a lasting impression.

By Any Other Name is Jodi Picoult’s newest novel. It has a duel timeline whose story covers two women of different time periods but whose lives are not all that different. Emilia Bassano lives in the late 1500’s when women had no voice, were for the most part uneducated, and were there for one purpose, to take care of the home and raise a family. Emilia had a very hard life after she lost her parents, becoming a courtesan, being tossed out of that position, then becoming a wife to an awful man. She found one true love but couldn’t have that life as he was above her in status. She found her solace in writing poems and plays. But here too, being a women, she would never have these published or performed under her name. She made deals with others to use their name so that she could survive on her own.

Melina Green lives in today’s world. She is also a playwright . She writes a play based on the life of Emilia Bassano who her father told her was a far removed relative on her mother’s side. She had a bad experience with a play she wrote in college having it panned by her professor Jasper. Melina’s roommate Andre, a male of color, wants her to submit this new play to a competition but she discovers the judge is none other than her old professor. She refuses but her roommate sends it one night without her knowledge. It wins but here too she feels it is only because it was submitted under the name of Mel Green and they assumed it was a male who sent it. As this develops further, we see how the theatre playwrights are for the most part white males, even today. There is no diversity in this area of the theatre. We see as it goes along, how this change takes place,

I liked the novel and the story it told. I was not thrilled with the length of the chapters on Emilia as they were very drawn out and had many Shakespearean dialogues written into them. Not being a fan of this type of writing, I found it hard to understand and to follow. I realize that Shakespeare was the one who bought Emilia’s plays, but I do not feel it was necessary to include his pros. Perhaps for those that like that form of writing, it will be a wonderful addition.

I would like to thank Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this advanced, unedited edition.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult was a 5+ start read!
I think this may be her best book. I devoured it and honestly could go back and reread it immediately.
A beautiful story told in dual timelines and yet so relevant to today.
Can not recommend this one enough!

loved this book and loved the differnt point of views of melina and elissa. loved that they both were able to use their words and that they both found love. I loved seeing elissa life and her marriage and real love. I loved that they found happiness.

It is 1581, and Emilia Bassano is trained and given as a courtesan to Lord Chamberlain, the man in charge of all theater productions in England. Since Emilia had been highly educated in her youth, she became curious about play writing and often reads the plays submitted to Lord Chamberlain. He even considers her opinions about them. Emilia decides to try her hand at writing a play. She has things to say. However, she knows that, as a woman, and especially as a mistress, she would not be permitted to submit a play for production. She decides to approach an actor named William Shakespeare, to see if he would put his name to her work in exchange for some of the resulting profit.

Hundreds of years later, Melina Greene tries to enter the world of play writing. Having studied play writing in college, she feels she has something to say. Meanwhile, she learns about her ancestor, Emilia Bassano, who was the first woman to publish a book of poetry. Emboldened by the story of her ancestor, she writes a play. However, she realizes that, even in the present day, women are not equal participants in this field. Her best friend helps her to get her play produced by using a man’s name.

This is a wonderfully moving tale of two women linked by genetics, but separated from each other by centuries. Picoult tells her tale by weaving the stories of the two women together, first by telling us a little about Melina, and then telling Emilia’s story. By alternating the two women’s stories, the reader slowly grows to know and care about each woman. Tenderly written and well-researched, this story is one of my favorites by the author, and one I will never forget.

This book did not hold my attention at any point. I found both POVs to not be that compelling. I didn’t really care what happened to any of the characters. I think this book definitely has an audience it just isn’t me.

I really wanted to like this book since I've read all of her books and enjoyed most of them, but this one just wasn't for me.
The book had a lot of details and went back and forth between time periods= current time to Shakespeare's time on the earth. But the book seemed to drag on with many details that didn't interest me including Old English writings. Also, the sexually content was very detailed, so I skipped these pages when I came to them.

What if Shakespeare really wasn't who we really think he was? What if all the historic evidence really didn't prove he was the author of any of the plays he had claimed were his original works. Back in the 1500's a woman born to musicians who entertained the aristocrats and Royal families named Emilia began writing stories. As life happened and she struggled to find income, Emilia reached out to Shakespeare to help bring her plays to life on the stage.
Fast-forward to the present day, Melina is trying to make it in the playwriting world very similar to Emilia. Despite the progressive times we live in, it is still hard for women to make it in the theater as playwrights. Mel's friend secretly enters her play into a contest and she is chosen as a finalist. The only problem, he entered her as "Mel" and not Melina. They think the play was written by a man. How is Melina ever going to reveal she is the real person behind the play?
Jodi Picoult is an amazing storyteller! She weaved in and out of the two women's lives intertwining them at the same time. Both women had amazing remarkable life stories. I really enjoyed the historical part of the book. I haven't read Shakespeare since I was in high school and really didn't know much about his life. By Any Other Name will make you question the historical accuracy behind his plays and brings awareness to the struggles of professional playwrights. My only complaint is the chapters are so long. I prefer shorter chapters. I like to be able to sneak in a chapter when I can. These long chapter make it so hard to sneak in a quick chapter. I found myself only reading when I could commit to a full chapter.
I will always recommend Jodi Picoult to others and will always be on the look out for her new work. I am a huge fan! Special thanks to Jodi Picoult, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 4 stars for me.
#ByAnyOtherName #NetGalley

I was captured from the beginning by Melina's story and found myself racing through the Emilia sections to get back to Melina. I am not a playwright, but I am a writer and a theatre lover. I felt that the themes of racism and sexism (in the theatre world as well as the world at large) were handled brilliantly. I know that Emilia's story is important, however I think that the book would have benefited from the author's weaving some of Emilia's story/history into the one story line that belonged to Melina as, in my humble opinion, this novel was about 150 pages too long. The author's notes at the end of the book are fascinating!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult is a very different novel than her usual fiction. She creates a dual timeline story of an aspiring playwright, Melina Green who lacks confidence in her own work. She contrasts this with her ancestor, Emilia Bassano, the first female published poet and the woman who many believed was the actual author of many of Shakespeare's works. It was an interesting dichotomy and although it's fiction, you could see how it could fact. A very interesting concept and worth considering! Thank you to the author publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

What if Shakespeare was never actually a playwright? This question has been posed many years over the decades, but this time Picoult explores the idea through a dual timeline; that of Emilia Bassano-the purported true playwright, and her ancestor Melina Green. While Melina tries to uncover the truth of her ancestor by writing a play of her own, we also follow Emilia's life in 1500s England.

Picoult has the tendency to pen extremely length novels. Sometimes this works out and the length of the book actually lends itself to the plot/character development. Other times, the story falls short and can't seem to keep up with the gargantuan amount of pages. Unfortunately, <u>By Any Other Name</u> mostly fell in the latter category. I enjoyed Melina's chapters as they were often shorter and more concise and lent a lot to her character, but Emilia's chapters were just tedious after a while and I feel like so much could have been cut from them. By the 50% mark I was just ready for everything to be wrapped up and felt exhausted by the idea of 300 additional pages to go. Overall the story was fine, it was interesting, Picoult put a creative and well written spin on it-but it needed to be about 200-300 pages shorter!

I adore Jodi Picoult's books..this was an interesting well researched historical fiction novel.with a dual timeline. The premise.asks the world was the great great Bard, Shakespeare really a woman.. I found the premise to be intriguing. Highly recommend!