Shakespeare’s Journey Home: a Traveller’s Guide through Elizabethan England

A breathtakingly vivid portrait of Elizabethan England, ’Shakespeare’s Journey Home’ recreates in rich historical detail the playwright’s annual journey from his lodgings in London’s Bishopsgate to his home in Stratford-on-Avon. Applying the same deep-focus as James Shapiro’s ’1599: a year in the life of Shakespeare, ’ Dutton concentrates on three days in the playwright’s calendar, bringing to life every building, street, lane, village, town and inn Shakespeare would have passed, as well as the people he could have met en route. Both a travelogue and work of visual archaeology, the volume is a valuable contribution to Shakespeariana, of appeal both to lovers of Shakespeare eager for fresh insights into his life and work, and also to lovers of Elizabethan social history. Fully illustrated, each chapter is devoted to a section of the route Shakespeare would have followed, enabling the reader to use the work as a handy travel guide as they accompany Shakespeare through the teeming streets of Tudor London to the wild open heartland of rural England. A must for all visitors to England keen to discover things about Shakespeare not found in the traditional guide books, and also essential reading for those looking for a historical walk with a difference.