Dear Bill,

Thanks for your comment on my novel, A Pageant of Shadows. Evidently we share an interest and an enthusiasm for the England of Shakespeare’s time.

In answer to your question, the only similarities in my book to the movie, Shakespeare in Love, is the fact that the female character had to dress in male attire in order to play feminine roles. That would be a natural approach, due to fact that during this period women were excluded from participation as actors. It’s a bit of theatrical irony, but both the film writer and I saw that as an inevitable segment that would be necessary to the plot as it reflected the time.

As far as my emulating the film intentionally is concerned, that would be impossible. I wrote the novel in 1980, and it was registered with the copyright office (PAu-1-158-941).

Have you purchased the book? If you haven’t and you are considering it, I would prefer that you would buy it directly from me, as I would be happy to give you a personally autographed copy.

Warm regards,
Louise Cabral