Nicholas Cooke - Softcover

Cowell, Stephanie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345390164 ISBN 13: 9780345390165

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1994

Synopsis

Into the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe, Elizabeth and Essex, the horrific plagues of London and the brutal war in Ireland, strides one Nicholas Cooke, the hero of one of the most engagingly brilliant historical novels to appear in years. A memorable portrait not just of a man, but of an entire world.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

The splendor and squalor of Elizabethan England come sharply into focus in this saga of a talented, troubled actor's search for himself: a first from Renaissance specialist Cowell. Young Nicholas Cooke was a promising student in Canterbury until his father was hung as a thief and his mother turned to prostitution. Nicholas's rage at this cruel fate costs him his dream of advancing to study at Cambridge and forces him to flee to London, where a chance encounter with Christopher Marlowe near St. Paul's leads to lusty infatuation. In time, the playwright brings the younger man to a company of struggling actors for a proper introduction to the theater, with Nick becoming a reluctant but dutiful apprentice to John Heminges, Shakespeare's friend and associate. As years pass he learns the trade well, in spite of his inner conflicts--not least of which is an unrequited love for his master's sweet young wife; after a brief, passionate encounter with her, he decamps for the glory of war against the Irish rebels, but finds it a misguided, gruesome business from which he barely escapes alive. Welcomed as the prodigal returned, he marries (reluctantly) Heminges's daughter and becomes an actor of the first rank at the Globe, only to fall victim once more to his unsettled nature, abandoning his career to pursue a long-suppressed desire to become a priest. Failure at this ruins his marriage but leaves him free at last to go to Cambridge, where he studies medicine and returns to London a physician. When a sympathetic bishop makes him a priest, he finally gains his heart's ease--and the respect of all who knew him. Seething and turbulent: Cowell's debut is a moving picaresque- -as well as a detailed portrait of Shakespearean England--and a delight to read. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

First-novelist Cowell vividly captures the earthily lyrical language and harsh social reality of Elizabethan England in an outstanding historical drama. At age five, Nick sees his father hanged as a thief; his mother is reduced to taking in laundry, and the intelligent boy becomes a scholarship student at the King's School in Canterbury. But his headmaster deems the wild, angry teenager unsuitable for higher education and apprentices him to a wheelwright. After stabbing his brutal master in self-defense, Nick runs away to London. Playwright Kit Morley (aka Christopher Marlowe) seduces the impressionable youth and places him with actor/manager John Heminges, whose beautiful wife Rebecca prompts Nick's first heterosexual longings. Torn and confused, Nick feels he must avenge Morley's murder; yet he feels loyal to sympathetic Will Shagspere (Cowell uses the variant 16th-century spelling), who comforts him; and to Heminges, who offers him trust and affection. Overriding all is his own wish to be a priest and a physician. Struggling to master his uncertainties, he follows Lord Essex to the disastrous Irish war. Later, shaken by the experience, Nick returns to London and the theater company, marries and becomes a successful leading actor. Never wholly satisfied, he finally breaks free to study theology and medicine. The golden age of English theater comes to life in Cowell's vigorous prose, as does her turbulent, conflicted protagonist. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0345390164
• ISBN 13: 9780345390165
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448