I read Jodi Picoult’s recent release, By Any Other Name, not long ago. This was a fictional, dual time line story about two women playwrights. Picoult posits that of these two main characters, Emilia Bassano, wrote Shakespeare’s plays. She makes a compelling argument.

Anyone who read that novel and was intrigued or anyone who is interested in women’s creative lives during Elizabethan times will want to give this non-fiction title a look. It tells the stories of four women who wrote in an era when most women did not express themselves in this way. The four are Mary Sidney, Aemelia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary and Anne Clifford. The resulting book is quite interesting.

To help readers, the author has included family charts for each of the women. There are also some illustrations interlaced with the text. The reader is given a sense of what life was like in that time period. They will also learn what it was like to manage typical and expected women’s roles while at the same time wanting and having a creative life.

Recommended to those who are interested in history and literature.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for this title. All opinions are my own.

Shakespeare's Sisters is an interesting introspection on women who were Shakespeare's contemporaries but did not receive the same fame or attention. It highlights their voices and perspectives on the era.

Loved this. I really enjoyed everything about this. I loved the story completely. It will stay with me for a long time. I appreciate that the author has very strong voice - one I really enjoy.

I embarked on Ramie Targoff’s marvelously informed multiple biography with a solid familiarity with Mary Sidney and Emily Lanier, but little knowledge of Anne Clifford or Elizabeth Carey. I finished, two readings later, with some real questions concerning the author’s conception and intent. Is this book an attempt to leverage the current Elizabethan fascination among lay readers by trotting out three (of four) otherwise admirable women whom the credulous lay reader is arm-twisted into believing offer literary merit comparable to Shakespeare’s accomplished male contemporaries? Yes each of the women Targoff profiles are educated (by enlightened mentors) in a wondrously Humanist, classics-reading way, but do the works of theirs that survive—except for those of Mary Sidney—really display high literary merit?
Author Targoff makes scant attempt to prove that case, even with her light quotation of felicitous passages. Yes, each woman offers an utterly fascinating biography and (again, except for Mary Sidney) gives us an infuriating case study of the hatefully misogynistic attitudes of their husbands, brothers, nephews, and other male contemporaries. Marvelous, if painful, history, but not enough thoughtful literary commentary.

This book represents quite an extensive study of four women writers during the time of Queen Elizabeth I in England. Holding the Queen as a role model for the women, the book is densely written with numerous details about her. Historical accounts underscore the role of women and also particular details about each of the four women. Extensive notes and bibliography add veracity to the book. This is a scholarly work rather than a novel, although it is rich with interesting details.

This took me a long time to get through, but that's not a bad thing. (For starters, I am slow to get through nonfiction to begin with, haha). But, this was so packed with information and details, I was reveling in them. I was aware of Elizabeth Cary because of some classes I took in college, but the other authors were new to me and I loved learning about them too! I was reminded, particularly in the case of Mary Sidney, of the transitive property that women's writings would have onto the men in their lives -- thinking of Jacqueline Pascal, the subject of my thesis, who was also an author and poet but history remembers her brother Blaise Pascal and his Pensees more than her, despite her influence on them. Exactly my type of nonfiction, I enjoyed this greatly.

This is a detailed history of Elizabethan England. I expected a little more focus on the women writers themselves, and perhaps a little less on the men and politics of the era. Overall, it's well-written and appears to be thoroughly researched. It's good for what it is, but it's not what I expected, which is a bit disappointing.

Ramie Targoff takes up her pen to challenge Virginia Wolff's conclusions about a complete lack of women writers specifically during Shakespeare's day, and that's what caught on the tumbleweed against the fence of my mind. So much of history is simply what skimpy information has made it down to us. . .this author restores a number of women writers to a place on Shakespeare's shelf. They were always there, we (and Virginia) just hadn't got the word.

It is a gift to all when writers of a particular bent take the time to spell out in an accessible way what they know so well it may be somewhat of a chore - but yet they take the time. In her Shakespeare's Sisters we are reminded that Shakespeare's time - just like ours - was a 3-D event. Things were hopping, papercuts hurt, accidents were deadly, and some people got away with murder, and writing. She pulls out her research and tells us the info we hadn't got in that Shakespeare text in high school - about women writing plays, poetry, property hijacks that could today be litigated and all while keeping house, hearth, husband and the Queen happy. Mostly.

There is deep info in this book, and it meanders when the author's interests wind her in tight curls - but she always comes back to her Lady in Focus, one of the four she has featured. Her endpapers are helpful and scrupulous, my favorite kind.

I'm definitely in for more of her work.


*A sincere thank you to Ramie Targoff, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #ShakespearesSisters #NetGalley

Love, love, love this book! It was incredibly well-researched, had a conversational tone throughout, and gave a voice to so many women who otherwise may have been lost to the annals of history.

What a fun and interesting book! I am a fan of Shakespeare but it was interesting to learn about more women around during his life. Well done!

It seemed intriguing, but it just couldn't hold my attention.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Knopf through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Shakespeare's Sisters is a fascinating journey through the lives of women in the Renaissance period, where women were considered men's property and really., unless men mentioned the women, you didn't really know much about them. This is an in depth journey from Queen Elizabeth Cary to Mary Sidney, from Aemelia Lanyer to Anne Clifford, who were from different tiers of society and yet, kept interesting records of not only their personal diaries, but also contributions to the literacy world, both known and unknown in their time, but becoming more known in ours. Fascinating details of each of these women are investigated and written down so that they come alive for us today. Very well done and highly recommended!
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

I want to thank Netgalley and Knof Publishing for a copy of this book.

Brief Summary: A nonfiction work examining the biographies and literary contributions of four Renaissance women: Mary Sidney (Countess of Pembroke), Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary (Viscountess Falkland), and Anne Clifford (Baroness Clifford; Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery). These women's lives are interwoven throughout the book as their lives were and highlight the influence these women had on each other works as well as literature at large.

Thoughts: This book starts a little slow as Targoff does a thorough job discussing the entirety of each of these women's lives including discussing their childhoods, socioeconomic status, and relationships. However, around chapter 3 my interest in the book increased because the women began to have greater agency within their own lives.

Throughout the book which of the women I found the most fascinating continued to change with the more information that I learned about each one of them. I think that this speaks volumes about both the subjects of the books and Targoff's writing style. By interweaving the narratives events in time are being kept in chronological order from the reign of Elizabeth I to the Restoration Period. It also allowed Targoff to highlight how each of these women knew and were related to one another. For example, Anne Clifford married for the second time to Mary Sidney's son and Aemilia Lanyer appears to have tutored Anne for a time during her youth. While Anne and Elizabeth moved in the same court circles.

I also really enjoyed how Targoff also highlighted and integrated these women's connections to Anna of Denmark (Queen Consort to James VI and I) and Henrietta Maria (Queen Consort to Charles I). It was particularly interesting to learn about Queen Anna's interest in Anne's court case the advice she gave Anne which helped her hold her ground in the face of pressure from the men around her or how Henrietta Maria aided Elizabeth with religious matters.

Balancing the discussion of world events and biographical information can be a difficult task especially when information is not as readily available for the subject, but Targoff does an excellent job. Particularly with Aemilia who is the least sociologically advantaged of the women discussed throughout this book. I appreciate the archival work that Targoff had to conduct to find her in the historical record later in her life and the later court cases were very interesting.

I think that this is a great book for anyone interested in learning about women-centred history, particularly those who contributed to Renaissance literature I would recommend this book. This book is an excellent combination of literary contribution, biography, and history.

Content Warnings
Graphically described: Chronic illness, Child death, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, War, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of a parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Misogyny

Moderately described: Mental illness

Minor description: Animal death, Vomit, and Suicide

Shakespeare's Sisters
By Ramie Targoff

During the English Renaissance – the Elizabethan era – literature created by men such as Marlowe, Shakespeare and others was thriving. Yet little has ever been introduced to us about the successful women writers of the period.

Targoff sets out here to introduce us to four women who, in spite of the limitations of social mores of the times, were obviously well educated (perhaps auto-didacts) and successful writers in a time when educating women was frowned upon.

The four women were Mary Sydney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary, and Anne Clifford. These four women represent a cross-section of English society: the aristocracy; the bourgeoisie; the immigrants who came to England as court entertainers. While each of these women had husbands and children and households to run, they all managed to find the time and places to continue their writings. They wrote translations from many languages into English; poetry, and plays. They were prolific in their writings and made a major contribution to the literature of the period.

Targoff opens a window here and shows the reader a much fuller picture of English creativity at the time. By introducing the women's perspective, Targoff has given us the ability to truly see the English Renaissance as a whole. This is an eye-opening book.

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf for allowing me to read and review Shakespeare's Sisters How Women Wrote the Renaissance on NetGalley.

Published: 03/12/24

Stars: 4

My attention wavered. With that said, I'm not a super fan of the Renaissance; I do enjoy learning and trivia. The beautiful cover started my trip back to Shakespeare's day.

At age 13 you were a woman? Well, the girls married,were abused, uneducated and all with their father's blessings. Shakespeare's Sisters How Women Wrote the Renaissance is full of the second class treatment of women and children. While reading I could see parallels to today's world and it saddened me, forcing my brain to flip ahead.

This is nicely written and full of facts that often blurred my vision.

I would gift this in a basket with a bottle and cheese.

This book is a fantastic exploration of four women, contemporary to Shakespeare and who made great literary contributions with almost none recognition from the public, then and now. They are known and study in the academic world, but most of us never even heard about them and their work. They are Mary Sidney, a poet. Amelia Lanyer who wrote a feminist version of the crucifixion , Elizabet Carey, the first woman to publish a play and Anne Clifford, a diarist. The author unveils these impressive women and allows us t a glimpse of part of their works and personal stories. It can be too detailed for moments so it took me longer to read it than would normally take me a book of less than 350 pages, but it is written in a very enjoyable way.

Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance by Ramie Targoff is a brilliant insight into the lives of four women who broke the glass doors in their own right. In a world where women were considered property of men, these women used whatever freedom they had to write poems, plays, and diaries.

This book goes into every detail of the lives of these women, starting with the coronation of Elizabeth I. It was a fascinating read, especially since I had never heard of Mary Sidney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary, or Anne Clifford. It is definitely a detailed and fact heavy book, so give yourself ample time to read.

It's a perfect book for the Women's History Book. Thank you, Knopf, Vintage, Pantheon, and Anchor, for this book.

"Shakespear's Sisters" does not mean Shakespear's actual family, but we could say sisters in spirit, in other words, woman writers roughly of the same period. This engagingly written, at times vivid and image-rich academic work rewarded slow reading. Absolutely solid with primary source grounding and quotations, the book examines the lives and work of four women, and their impact on the evolving scene of English literature.

It's especially interesting to see these various ways the modern novel was beginning to bud. Fiction of course has been around for a long time. Chaucer being a fine example. But the evolution, particularly with respect to the twists and turns of English history--the puritan era--is an absorbing subject in itself.

It's all there: early publicity (coffee houses, broadsides) plays, women writing plays, fictional autobiography, education of women, translating across languages, balancing the inner life of the writer with that of a woman of the times, and her obligations. Targoff's book is well worth having in hardback, so that one can reference its stellar notes.

The title caught my attention but actually reading it did not. Unfortunate but true. It came across as dry reading, with a lot of quotes to provide context. But they seem rather to overwhelm the text, to the point of distraction. I wish I could have liked it, but I didn't.

Thanks to NetGalley for access to this advanced copy, which I voluntarily reviewed.

In A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN, Virginia Woolf wrote that if Shakespeare had a sister, she wouldn’t have been able to pursue writing. Instead, she would’ve been trapped by society’s expectations and eventually driven mad.

With all due respect to Woolf, Ramie Targoff and her fascinating nonfiction work sheds light on the real women in Renaissance England who DID pursue writing despite the limitations of their patriarchal society.

Tariff brings to light the lives of four Renaissance women (including the first woman in England to publish original poetry, the first woman to publish an original play, and even more trailblazers) who have been passed over on the historical record. They lived and wrote despite (and sometimes because of) harsh patriarchal norms, personal losses, national conflict, and religious discord.

For the most part, their writerly spirits were sustained by personal wealth and class privilege. It also begs the question… How many other female writers across time have been lost to history due to their gender AND class?

I was completely fascinated by SHAKESPEARE’S SISTERS and it’s inspired me to view the Renaissance in an entirely different light. I had never heard of any of these women before, but their stories deserve attention, space, and study. (They also have more plot twists than most novels!) Thankfully, this book is around to create a fuller (and deliciously richer) perspective on this era and I HIGHLY recommend it!

I’ll leave you with the author’s final words on the subject which have inspired me as both a book lover and an aspiring female historian: “We can hear their words and learn their lessons, and the more of these voices we can uncover, the richer our own history becomes. The future of the past is full of women.”

(*Please note this is from an ARC and the final version is subject to change.) Thank you to the publishers for an early copy!