Book Summary of By Any Other Name
“By Any Other Name” by Jodi Picoult weaves together narratives from different centuries that share common battles faced by women to receive creative credit. The present-day story introduces Melina Green as a determined playwright pursuing success in New York City. She has landed her first major opportunity by translating a contentious scholarly book into a play which implies a woman worked with William Shakespeare – or was actually the real brains behind his works. The theatre world is shaken by this bold assertion which endangers Melina’s career while simultaneously thrusting her into the limelight. The novel returns to Elizabethan England and brings back Emilia Bassano who was an actual historical poetess and the first English woman to publish a poetry book. Emilia demonstrates her resilience while maneuvering through the perilous masculine environment of that period. Her brilliance and education paired with immense talent are overshadowed by strict societal expectations and risks faced by women linked to influential men which may include Shakespeare. While Melina battles modern forms of sexism alongside artistic doubt she stands against Emilia’s historical journey to maintain her intellectual freedom and creative expression. Through its narrative the book establishes powerful links between the two female protagonists while examining issues related to authorship, historical female erasure, ambition, the distinction between collaboration and plagiarism, and modern power struggles faced by women in creative fields.
Author Intro
Jodi Picoult
From the first page Jodi Picoult emerges as a unique storyteller who deeply touches both your skin and heart. She has written more than 25 novels which establish her as a dominant force in modern fiction because of her skill in transforming difficult moral subjects into irresistibly engaging stories. Her novels merge social justice topics with intense family relationships to create stories that stay with readers long after they finish reading. My Sister’s Keeper, Small Great Things and The Book of Two Ways stand out as her most recognized works. Picoult fearlessly explores challenging topics such as euthanasia, racism, abortion and the death penalty and maintains emotional authenticity throughout her storytelling. Her characters demonstrate a complex range of emotions rather than being limited to simple black and white distinctions. The recent story “By Any Other Name,” created with Jennifer Finney Boylan as a co-author delves into identity exploration alongside themes of love and time which appear modern yet eternal. It’s classic Picoult: smart, surprising, and deeply human.
Book Reviews of By Any Other Name
Okay, look, when a new Jodi Picoult book comes out, it’s basically an event, right? You know you’re going to be hooked, you know you’re going to be up late reading, and you know it’s going to make you think. “By Any Other Name” totally delivered on all that, but with a twist I wasn’t expecting – Shakespeare! I wasn’t sure how she’d pull off the historical stuff, but honestly, it works. You get that classic Picoult moral dilemma – who really wrote these plays, and does it even matter? – but split across two timelines.
I approached “By Any Other Name” with a healthy dose of skepticism. Jodi Picoult is a giant in contemporary fiction, but tackling the Shakespeare authorship question, and specifically Emilia Bassano’s potential role, is stepping onto well-trodden and often contentious historical ground. I have to say, Picoult’s research into the Elizabethan era, particularly the constraints and limited pathways available to a talented woman like Bassano, felt generally solid and respectfully handled.
What makes “By Any Other Name” fascinating isn’t necessarily its attempt to ‘solve’ the Shakespeare authorship riddle – plenty have tried that. Instead, Jodi Picoult uses the controversy as a brilliant framing device to explore why these questions persist and what they say about our relationship with literary canons and genius. The portrayal of the contemporary New York theatre scene felt sharp and recognisable – the egos, the precarious funding, the clash between artistic integrity and commercial pressure, the debates over ‘authenticity’.
This book made me want to scream – in a good way! Jodi Picoult absolutely nails the systemic frustration of being a woman trying to claim space in a creative field, both now and 400 years ago. Reading about Emilia Bassano, this incredibly talented poet navigating Elizabethan England, dealing with powerful, dismissive men, risking everything just to write… it’s infuriating because you know how much potential was likely stifled or simply stolen. Then you jump to Melina facing down skeptical producers, online trolls, and academic gatekeepers who can’t fathom the idea that the ‘great man’ Shakespeare might not have worked entirely alone? It’s the same battle, just with different costumes and technology.
