Author Andrea Chapin will be appearing at Diesel, A Bookstore in Santa Monica on Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 pm for a book signing and discussion of her novel, The Tutor. I’m eighty pages into the book, which is a fascinating fictional account of what could have happened during one of Shakespeare’s “lost years” (1585-1592). Chapin’s writing is elegantly accessible and weaves historical details into a plot that brings together a young William Shakespeare and the beautiful widow, Katharine de L’Isle at a crucial period in the playwright’s career.
Katharine quietly fills her days with the books she loves and time with her extended family at Lufanwal Hall, the home of her uncle, Sir Edward. But when the family’s priest, who had been performing Catholic services in secret, is found murdered, Sir Edward faces death threats and is forced to flee the country. At the same time, an audacious new schoolmaster arrives from Stratford who is coarse, quick-witted, and brazenly flirtatious. Put off by his behavior but drawn to his gift with words, the two begin an unlikely relationship that becomes the inspiration for his erotic poem, Venus and Adonis.
It’s a match of wits befitting a Shakespearean tale; one that is full of romance, mystery, and Elizabethan intrigue. Here’s a passage from the book to pique your interest:
The tutor was coming toward her in a flame-colored doublet and white ruff. Full doublet, slashed, gray silk peeking through. Narrow waist, flaring hips, broad shoulders. Dove-gray hose. She waited. He looked quite handsome in his fiery hue, surely not the attire of a glover’s son. She doubted such a rich doublet was in accordance with the queen’s Sumptuary Laws. He held a sheaf of paper and knelt, a knight before a queen, and placed seven sheets in a row, a card dealer now.
“Seven sonnets,” he said, still kneeling.
She wanted him to rise; his countenance was off–the supplicant had replaced the challenger…
“Seven sonnets,” he repeated, his head down, his eyes still lowered.
“Seven sonnets,” she said finally, in an effort to come to his aid.
“That I beg you…”
She nodded.
“Beseech you…”
She nodded again.
“To read.”
“Of course,” she said quickly, worried that he would keel over or start to weep. How strange he seemed, how fragile, how humble. “I will read them,” she said. Was he feigning or in sooth frightened?
“You forced my hand,” he said.
So he was a gambler. She knelt across from him, picked up the first sheet and read it, and then the second and then the third, until she had read all seven. She was shocked. She hadn’t expected this…
You can meet Ms. Chapin in Santa Monica on the 19th and hear more about how she brought this unique story to life.
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Andrea Chapin has been an editor at art, movie, theater, and literary magazines, including The Paris Review, Conjunctions, and The Lincoln Center Theater Review. She has written for such publications as More, Redbook, Town & Country, Self, Martha Stewart Living, and others. Chapin lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
THE TUTOR (Hardcover)
By Andrea Chapin
$27.95
ISBN: 9781594632549
Availability: On Shelves Now
On Amazon.com
Published: Riverhead Books – February 5, 2015
Reading and Book Signing with Andrea Chapin
Sunday, April 19, 2015, 3:00 – 4:00pm
Diesel, A Bookstore
225 26th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90402
Click Here for more information about the event
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