“Conscientious [and] full of good sense. The reader will not go wrong with it, as with most books about Shakespeare.” —A.L. Rowse, author of Shakespeare the Man

“In this biography, Wilson has marshaled all the known facts about the people he knew and places he lived, and woven them all together into a convincing, readable account of the elusive man from Stratford-upon-Avon. Much of this book reads like a detective story...[Wilson's] willingness to investigate areas that others have overlooked pays rich dividends.” —Library Journal

“Ian Wilson's absorbing biography investigates the diverse theories about the historical Shakespeare.... Steers a trim middle course between the scholarly and the popular and is notable for its scrupulous attention to the pros and cons of a host of theories. The research (unusual in a book of this sort) is up to the minute.... Impressive.” —Robert Taylor, The Boston Globe

“A splendid, fresh, significant work on Shakespeare. [Wilson's] prose is a wonderful reward in itself.” —Park Honan, author of Jane Austen: A Life and Author's Lives