It’s the winter of 1589, and the actors of Lord Strange’s Men are rehearsing a new play by their young playwright William Shakespeare. But in a shock intervention, the authorities close the company down over some trifling transgression. Unable to work, Will starts writing a new play, Titus Andronicus, which he hopes to sell to one of the other acting companies. Disaster strikes when the play, along with the rest of the company’s precious collection of playscripts, is stolen from his room. Facing the ruin of his reputation and career, Will engages the help of Edward ‘Cutting’ Ball, the leader of a gang of thieves and conmen, to help find the plays. The ensuing search leads into the murky waters of theatrical rivalries intertwined with political machinations that reach high into the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

June 1587, and William Shakespeare, newly returned from his adventures in Italy, has at last entered on the career that will define his life by joining one of London’s leading acting companies, The Queen’s Men. An unexpected death while the company is on tour seems about to give him his big break, but instead he finds himself drawn back into the murky world of espionage in a year when England faces the challenge of the Spanish Armada and possibility of invasion. Using only his wits and his pen (and with a little help from friends old and new) he must navigate the treacheries of Elizabethan politics and get to the bottom of a plot that threatens England's stability at a crucial moment in her history.

Alive with period detail, this meticulously researched second novel in Anthony Wildman’s Lost Years series takes the reader deep into the world of Elizabethan theatre just as it is entering upon its golden age, when giants such as Christopher Marlowe and Robert Greene were turning the world of English literature on its head.

"I must know what the king of Spain is going to do before he knows it himself. And that, Shakespeare, is why you are going to Italy."

With these enigmatic words, Sir Francis Walsingham sends a young, unknown poet on a mission to Venice—a city of masks, secrets, and shadows. The poet is none other than William Shakespeare, tasked with a mission of espionage that could change the fate of England.

Accompanied by the high-spirited illegitimate son of an English earl, young Will embarks on what seems a simple errand: find Walsingham’s agent in Venice and deliver secret instructions. But in the labyrinthine canals and gilded halls of the city, nothing is as it seems. Betrayal, passion, and danger lurk behind every corner, drawing Shakespeare into a deadly game of power and intrigue.

As the threads of conspiracy tighten, he discovers secrets with the potential to alter England’s future—and begins to find inspiration for plays that will shape the literary world for centuries. From the star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet to the shipwrecks and sorcery of The Tempest, history and imagination blend in a rich tapestry of storytelling.

Perfect for fans of Shakespeare's work and lovers of historical fiction, this novel masterfully blends fact with fiction, offering a fresh and thrilling perspective on the enigmatic bard's early life.

Florence, 1498. The long rule of the Medici is over and a new regime has emerged from the turbulence, a genuine republic of the people. But Florence is weak and threatened by a new warlord who is rampaging across central Italy—Cesare Borgia.

Niccolò Machiavelli is young and inexperienced when he becomes second secretary of the Florentine chancellery, but he is destined to become his city’s leading diplomat. As he tries to counter the Borgia threat, Machiavelli is plunged into the grim realities of power politics, negotiates with kings and popes, and learns that no one can be trusted.