“This book is a fascinating journey, well-written, never boring… The historical facts known of both the actor and author Shakespeare are diligently analysed and underlying questions brought to light.”

“It was refreshing to read an accessible account and be taken through the life, the works and the history of this fascinating subject with such clarity and enthusiasm!”

“A real treasure for all who love Shakespeare and his time!”


The Shakespeare Enigma

Unravelling the story of the two poets

A mystery has always surrounded the authorship of the Shakespeare plays, poems and sonnets.

Why is what we know of the actor's life so at odds with what can be deduced about the author from the plays and poems?

Why do several contemporary poets and writers point to another person or persons as the true author of the Shakespeare works, with some of them even naming the author?

Why do the principal publications of the Shakespeare works—the first quartos of the poems and sonnets, and the first folio of the plays—carry the signature of the Gemini?

Why does the Shakespeare Memorial in Stratford-upon-Avon, erected a few years after the actor's death, also indicate the idea of twinship—an 'immortal' author and a 'mortal' actor?

Why do the Shakespeare sonnets mention two poets, each as great as the other?

What does Robert Greene mean by the 'Shake-scene' and why does he claim that the plays were written by himself and other 'gentlemen poets'?

Was there a Shakespeare group? —and why the secrecy?

This book takes the reader step by step along what can be seen as a well-constructed treasure trail, with 'signposts', to discover the true author or authors and their world of secret societies, and much else besides. It provides a detailed but highly readable history of the times and the characters involved, and is amply illustrated to show the vast array of pictorial evidence available but rarely seen all together in one book.

The Francis Bacon Research Trust