Interred With Their Bones sure had a lot stacked against it.  Having come off an incredible streak of three delightful novels, the last of which was easily my favorite read of the year, it was time for a deviation to the mean.  As I began Carrell’s novel, I thought that this would be it.  A nice 3-star review to settle my average and set me up for the next read.  I was using this book as a rebound and I wasn’t ashamed of it. I am now.  My plan would have worked, but the subject matter of Interred With Their Bones is just too dear to my heart.  Not to unfairly compare, but Carrell’s tale is The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code reviews with Shakespeare taking the place of Da Vinci.  It is a shame that Dan Brown did it first, because Carrell does it better.

Of course, Carrell does have some advantages.  Shakespeare has a controversy and  a host of conspiracy theories that come along with him (or her?).  My world nearly shattered when I first encountered the doubt of Shakespeare’s authorship.  I have been a Shakespeare nut since I was ten, playing the role of Puck in a garment of felt leaves sewn together by my doting stage-mom.  I graduated from that to his plays, began memorizing sonnets, and starting using lines from Romeo and Juliet to woo co-eds in college.  I attribute my ‘A’ in theater to introducing myself to my instructor on one knee, profaning her hand with my most unworthy touch.

John Michell’s Who Wrote Shakespeare grabbed my attention in our college bookstore one day because of the audacity of its title.  It was like asking who was buried in Grant’s tomb!  Scanning the back, just to quickly verify that Shakespeare indeed wrote Shakespeare, I was disheartened to learn that the title was not meant to be satirical.  Not only was this an argument for the Earl of Oxford having wrote the great plays, it was also a refutation of several other arguments for Sir Francis Bacon, Ben Johnson, and others.  A refutation of arguments I had no idea even existed.  I purchased the heretical book and read it intently.  I even believed it for awhile.

Then I countered that book with several that defend Stratford’s Shakespeare as the author.  I can admit to this day that there are difficulties explaining how a common man had the education and life experiences to write these great works, but I choose to ignore them.  As one of Carrell’s characters puts it in a stirring and emotional scene, the authorship matters as much as the works.  Shakespeare was a people’s hero, the beloved son of Britain’s non-nobles.

Like your Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln reviews in his log cabin, the Stratford boy’s story illustrates a point that matters a great deal: Genius can strike anywhere.  Anyone can be great.  Shakespeare once helped me pull myself up from the gutter, and I’ve spent a lifetime glorifying him in return.

I did not realize it before I read Carrell’s wonderful book, but this is my own rationalization for preferring Shakespeare over the alternatives.  Interred With Their Bones took me on a miniature journey of surety to doubt to rationalization that mirrors the longer struggle I went through eight years ago.  I went into this book satisfied with the authorship question, but Carrell quickly had something to say about that.

A bad conspiracy theorist beats you over the head with their lunacy until you relent.  A good one will present the theory as something on the fringe, probably not worth investigating, which has you rushing off blindly to pursue it.  Carrell is an expert in the latter, doling out doubt while her character yells “Bollocks”, and you keep straining for more.  Halfway into the book I realized that a work of fiction had me leaning away from Shakespeare’s authorship more readily than half-decent scholarship.  Recognizing the plethora of historically accurate facts on which Carrell bases her plot, I began to wonder about the fictional ones sprinkled here and there.  Before I knew it I was teetering over the edge where before I had been firmly grounded.

By the end of the novel, thanks to passages like the one quoted above, I was mostly back to my senses–my confidence shaken a bit.  And this emotional ride, which preyed on my personal history, was the difference between this being a rebound from DaemonDaemon reviews and another addition to a brilliant streak of reading material.  I do not know how fervently I would recommend this to people who dislike Shakespeare, as the entire book revolves around his world.  But to anyone who has even a mild fondness for the bard, this book will delight and entertain.  It is heavier on the clues, the intrigue, and the myriad theories that the main characters entertain than it is on the action, but this is a good thing.  The action comes across as realistic, rather than over-the-top, which improves the tension rather than having it suffer from hyperbole.

The novel starts off nice and slow and works up to an outstanding finish, so open the book with patience and let the author take control.  There are a few surprises in the plot that I did not foresee, but none of them were there just to “get you” with a standard twist.  You’ll see what I mean when you read it for yourself.

Interred With Their Bones is an amazing first piece of fiction from a talented author and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.  If you are a fan of the greatest writer of all time, this book with thrill you, for everyone else you will be adequately entertained, hopefully enough so that you will add to his legion of fans.  And this may be Carrell’s great success.  For a brilliant researcher who has an acclaimed non-fiction book under her belt, degrees from Harvard and Oxford, and has directed Shakespeare on grand stages–it may be an adventurous romp of fiction that reaches out to a new generation of readers.  If she achieves this, she has not just my applause and positive review, she has my undying gratitude.  Before I pick up my next book to read, I’m going to dust off my Complete Works and re-memorize a few sonnets.  Starting with #23.

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Interred With Their Bones - 2008 - More Information

Writer: Jennifer Lee Carrell
Genre: Thriller - Mystery
Company: Plume

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