By Jodi Picoult
I came to Jodi Picoult’s By Any Other Name knowing next to nothing about Shakespeare, the Elizabethan era, or the long-simmering academic debate over who actually wrote the plays attributed to him. What I found was a novel that was both thoroughly entertaining and left me with questions that deserve far more scrutiny than I can ever give it.
Picoult’s premise—that a woman was the true creative force behind some of history’s most celebrated literature but that her contributions were buried under a man’s name—feels less like historical speculation and more like a plausible reckoning in 2026. Watching today’s leaders attempt to erase the legitimate contributions of women and minorities from the historical record makes this story land with uncomfortable resonance. Fiction has a funny way of illuminating truth that history books sometimes can’t.
The novel is a bit on the long side, but Picoult’s writing never lingers. She is a sharp storyteller and creates rich, compelling characters on a dual timeline that keeps the stakes high throughout. Highly entertaining, thought-provoking, and timely in ways the author may not have fully anticipated when she wrote it.
Five stars.
Five stars