The Tragedy Of Arthur

Description

The doomed hero of The Tragedy of Arthur is Arthur Phillips, a young man struggling with a larger-than-life father, a con artist who works wonders of deception but is a very unreliable parent. Arthur is raised in an enchanted world of smoke and mirrors where the only certain fact is his father's and beloved sister's shared love for the works of William Shakespeare - a love so pervasive that Arthur becomes a writer in a misguided bid to win their approval. Near the end of his life, Arthur's father shares with him a treasure that he has kept for half a century: a previously unknown play by Shakespeare, titled The Tragedy of Arthur. Arthur and his sister also inherit their father's mission, to see the play published and acknowledged as the Bard's last great gift to humanity. Unless, of course, it's their father's last and greatest deception.

Reviews

'The whole thing is deliciously playful, a cunning comment on fiction and fraud and literary reputation and speculation' The Daily Mail 'A wonderful pastiche, steeped in the language and dramatic conventions of the Elizabethan era ... Ingenious' Sunday Times 'A novel that's going to cause a stir ... there are few limits to Mr Phillips' imagination' Robert McCrum, Guardian 'A delicious, lucid fantasy ... It acheives, gloriously, what Shakespeare's plays set out to to do: instill into their audience a sense of wonder' Daily Telegraph 'It is a masterful piece of mimicry, and a brilliant exploration of influence, authenticity and authorship. Arthur Phillips has managed a rare thing: he's found something new to say about Shakespeare' Literary Review