Reviews
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“[A] fascinating excavation of four intellectual powerhouse women of the 16th and early 17th centuries . . . Targoff’s intent is to scrape away the layer of literary obscurity from Shakespeare’s sisters and present the pentimento as transcendent survivors. Their work indeed lives on.” —Tina Brown, The New York Times Book Review (cover review)
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“Targoff [uncovers] brilliance. . . . These little known female voices widen our lens onto a past we thought we knew.”
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“Targoff has a knack for drawing out the drama and character of her subjects’ lives. Part group biography, part investigation of the conditions that allowed these early modern women to become writers Shakespeare’s Sisters is inspired by the life of Virginia Woolf’s famously invented Judith Shakespeare. . . . Shakespeare’s Sisters is elegantly written, witty, clear and accessible to non-specialists.”
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"In this thoughtful study, Targoff, a literary scholar, highlights four female contemporaries of Shakespeare, women who “weren’t encouraged” and rarely received “even a shred of acclaim,” but managed to write nonetheless."
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“”Most striking in Targoff’s account is the way the women had to accommodate a world of male expectations and bend their way around it in order to make their voices heard…. Shakespeare’s Sisters is a valuable addition to our understanding not only of women’s writing at the turn of the 17th century, but of their lives.”
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“[A] thrilling new group biography . . . Celebrates four very real Renaissance women who made use of their pens . . . With fluid prose, Targoff braids these four biographies to give an outstanding revisionist portrait of an age. She catalogues the difficulties these women faced—from lack of education, to extreme poverty, to obstreperous husbands—but the overall picture is not one, like Woolf imagined, of depression and madness. Targoff’s rewritten Renaissance is one in which women’s lives are not relegated; where their voices are heard on the page.” —The Telegraph
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“[An] intimate series of portraits, set against the rich background of Renaissance England . . . Pulsing with juicy biographical details, Shakespeare’s Sisters has its page-turning moments, with more twists than any contemporary television show. Targoff enthusiastically corrects history’s misogyny and casts her subjects in the starring roles that they always deserved.”
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Praise for Shakepeare’s Sisters here!
“This work of non-fiction is an absolute gem. It’s a fascinating premise that is superbly written and researched and holds one’s attention. Ramie Targoff lifts the veil on Renaissance England from a woman’s perspective, offering an inspiring, indispensable vision of indomitable (if sometimes unfamiliar) characters. It will undoubtedly appeal to readers beyond the narrow academic clique.”- Goodreads reader
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“In this decidedly feminist take on the literature of the English Renaissance, Targoff profiles four women who wrote during Shakespeare’s lifetime: Mary Sidney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary, and Anne Clifford. Targoff colorfully captures these women who followed their passion for writing at a time when women were considered property and did not always receive any formal education . . . The inclusion of historical art and texts gives readers the flavor of the Renaissance.”
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“Targoff delivers a vibrant group portrait of four women writers in Elizabethan England, most of whom were ignored or obscured for centuries but were ‘resurrected’ by feminist scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. . . . Targoff’s narrative is full of vivid personalities and intriguing tales of court alliances and rivalries. It’s an enlightening study of the era’s literary scene and the women who persevered despite their exclusion from it.”
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“Featuring crisp, engaging prose, Targoff’s eye-opening book welcomes general readers.”
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