Book Review: Shakespeare's Secret

Book: Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach

Source: Library

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Shakespeare's Secret is about main character 12 year old Hero Netherfield whose family just moved to yet another new town due to her father's job (he's a Shakespearean expert). Hero and her older sister Beatrice were both named after characters from Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing (since both of their parents love Shakespeare).

As Hero was starting 6th grade she was dealing with a lot of stress, she was having a really difficult time from kids teasing her which made it hard making new friends. Which was the complete opposite of her sister Beatrice's experience with starting the 8th grade.

Something that was distracting Hero from her school troubles was a mystery she found herself embroiled in. She along with her next door neighbor Mrs. Roth and her new friend Danny Cordova (an 8th grader) were trying to uncover the whereabouts of a million dollar diamond that was rumored to be concealed somewhere in Hero's house.

That wasn't the only mystery it appears that the missing diamond may have a possible connection to certain historical figures as well as possibly answering a much debated topic of Shakespeare's true identity. Was he the man from Stratford or someone who had a connection to Queen Elizabeth I?

I thought the author did a good job with combining history with fiction. Personally for me, I don't care who Shakespeare was. That magnificent work speaks for itself. It's timeless and still entertaining. It would be nice if experts would just let this discussion rest but since the author is an historian, she brought her field of knowledge to the story.

The only thing about this story that felt like a letdown was the disappointing ending. Besides trying to uncover the diamond and possible secrets about Shakespeare the author revealed secrets about the characters that felt like a last minute addition. To me the story didn't need it. And another thing that sort of bugged me was I found it hard to imagine an 8th grader (Danny) wanting to hang out with a 6th grader (Hero). It just didn't seem believable.

Other than that, it was a good story.