Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Annelie Geissler
Categories
Historical adventure fiction

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Mary McMyne

A dazzling reimagining of Shakespeare's Dark Lady, with a tempestuous romance and a touch of magic.

My name has only been whispered, heretofore... England, 1591. Rose Rushe's passion for life runs deep - she loves mead and music, meddles with astrology, and laughs at her mother's warnings to guard her reputation. When Rose's father dies and a noble accuses her and her dear friend Cecely of witchcraft, they flee to the household of respected alchemists in London. But as their bond deepens, their sanctuary begins to feel more like a cage. To escape, they turn to the occult, secretly casting charms and selling astrological advice in the hopes of building a life together. This thriving underground business leads Rose to fair young noble Henry and playwright Will Shakespeare, and so begins a brief, tempestuous, and powerful romance - one filled with secret longings and deep betrayals. In this world of dazzling masques and decadent feasts, where the stars decide futures, Rose will write her own fate instead. Mary McMyne is the author of The Book of Gothel (2022) and A Rose by Any Other Name (2024), published by Redhook and Orbit UK. She has published short stories, poems, and essays in venues such as Gulf Coast, Redivider, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Southern Humanities Review. She is the recipient of the Faulkner-Wisdom Prize for a Novel-in-Progress, a grant from the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and a National Endowment for the Arts Parent Fellowship to Vermont Studio Center, among other honors. Her debut poetry chapbook, Wolf Skin (Dancing Girl Press, 2014), won the Elgin Chapbook Award. A graduate of the New York University MFA Program, she is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Lake Superior State University.

Available products
Book Published 2024-07-16 by Redhook

Comments

A triumph of feminist imagination. Rose Rushe is the Dark Lady we've all been waiting for, and her story of star-signs and spellbooks, betrayal and true love will enchant readers of historical fantasy. I adored it.

A bold and inventive tale about a woman ahead of her time in an Elizabethan England you can practically see and touch. Timely, feminist, and wonderfully original.

The Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets comes to life in Mary McMyne's clever and captivating sophomore novel. A perfect blend of the historical and supernatural, A Rose by Any Other Name is a twisty, atmospheric reimagining of one of the most mysterious women in Shakespeare lore. Both fresh and gripping, this is the must-read romantic historical fantasy of the summer.

McMyne (The Book of Gothel) brings rich creativity, feminist sensibility, and a meticulous grounding in history to her captivating imagining of the life of the Dark Lady. Rose is a delightfully impish heroine. [A] satisfying alternate history that fits the facts without being limited by them. This is an impressive feat.

Fascinating. A touch of mysticism and an LGBTQ+ twist, intermingled with a variety of historical figures, offer a fresh take on a longstanding literary enigma.

The original world that McMyne has created shines. Her descriptions of magic are rich with heavy, cloying scents and skin-tingling sensations. Her streets feel full of possibility and danger. And Rose and her imperfect, wild compatriots seem to spring from the page. A captivating blend of forensic literary analysis and dark magic, A Rose by Any Other Name is a fascinating exploration into the world of "what if."

A Rose by Any Other Name is a sensual and witchy look at Shakespeare's England, as well as a compelling and singular take on the Bard himself. Rose blazes to life, stepping from the shadows cast by Shakespeare's (in)famous Dark Lady as an exceptional heroine in her own right, one who is determined to forge a life as an independent woman by any means necessary. Mary McMyne has crafted a masterful tale full of magic, poetry, and intrigue that will keep readers turning the pages into the dark of the night.