#1 bestselling novelist Jodi Picoult presents a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire that centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Young playwright Melina Green has written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Endowed with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, she is allowed no voice of her own. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.