At the centre of this intriguing, irresistible novel are the\nyoung Lambs: Charles, constrained by the tedium of his work as a\nclerk at the East India Company, taking refuge in a drink or three\ntoo many while spreading his wings as a young writer, and his\nclever, adoring sister Mary, confined by domesticity, an ailing,\ndotty father and a maddening mother- Into their lives comes William\nIreland, an ambitious 17-year-old antiquarian and bookseller,\nanxious not only to impress his demanding showman of a father, but\nto make his mark on the literary world. When Ireland turns up a\ndocument in the handwriting of Shakespeare himself, he takes Mary\ninto his confidence - but soon scholars and actors alike are\nbeating a path to the little bookshop in Holborn Passage. Touching\nand tragic, ingenious, funny and vividly alive, this is Ackroyd at\nthe top of his form in a masterly retelling of a 19th-century drama\nwhich keeps the reader guessing right to the end.

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