In the tradition of the Da Vinci Code and Ragtime, Shakespeare’s Bible goes beyond the documented history to tell the hidden stories of the individual’s stories behind the writing of some of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays and the creation of the King James Version (KJV) of the Holy Bible.
A purposeful playwright, Shakespeare wrote each play to achieve a particular end. Likewise, King James I had an ulterior motive in revising the stogy Bishops’ Bible, wanting to utilize the language of the people.
This work of historical fiction explores whether it was a mere coincidence that many of Shakespeare’s plays and the KJV were written at the same time (early 1600s) and in the same location (London) or was there a hidden connection? How did King James, a bullying and blasphemous drunk, convert a boring and somewhat flawed English translation of the Holy Bible into a book that has been in continuous print since its original release in 1611? What connects Sir Walter Raleigh and the Gunpowder Plot? Why was King James enraged when Shakespeare wrote a play vaguely alluding to Lady Arbella Stuart and her imprisonment in the Tower of London? Why did Shakespeare suddenly retire at the height of his career?
The plays and the KJV were inspired, written, and guided by real people with real lives, passions, concerns, motives, friends, and enemies. Following extensive research, Shakespeare’s Bible reveals little-known coincidences, connections, and intrigues among these individuals, some well-known but others mere footnotes in history, while bringing together the writing of the plays and the publication of the KJV during this often-overlooked period in English history. Both Shakespeare aficionados and readers new to the Bard of Avon will be drawn into the web of Shakespeare’s Bible.
Be there as the curtain is lifted on this misunderstood and misinterpreted era.
