Novel set in Venice, and we chat with author Benet Brandreth

5th August 2016

The Spy of Venice by Benet Brandreth – novel set in Venice.

We’ve got an odd relationship with Shakespeare in Britain. Sayings from his plays pepper our language and English teachers wrestle with the problem of how to work his sixteenth century plays into the timetable of twenty-first century teenagers because they believe (some of the more romantic anyway) that they’re part of the literary and cultural heritage of our country. And you just need to pay a short visit to his birthplace at Stratford-on-Avon to see that the fascination with the Bard and his plays is not confined to this sceptered isle.

Yet, despite so much interest in his plays, we know very little about the man himself – just a few odd facts and stories – and this vacuum provides other creative artists with inspiration for works of their own. The current poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy wrote Anne Hathaway about the imagined relationship between Shakespeare and his wife, and in the 1990’s the film Shakespeare in Love was a smash hit, its plot linking an imaginary love affair of Shakespeare’s with his writing of Romeo and Juliet. It’s this winning formula, the blend of fact and fiction, that Benet Brandreth follows in The Spy of Venice.

The novel starts with the young Will still in Stratford. He’s a bit of a lad and popular with the ladies, although not with the local landowner after he’s been found poaching. It’s here that fact and fiction meet for the first time in the novel, and who’s to say where one ends and the other begins? After all, although Shakespeare is far more famous, a lot less is known about him than, say, Thomas Cromwell, whose life in Tudor England forms the basis for Hilary Mantel’s best sellers Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies.

There’s a good reason why there is so much focus on the period. As many English history buffs would agree, the years of the Tudors are the most dramatic and romantic in English history. The main characters, especially King Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth, are larger-than-life individuals and their years on the throne are marked by blood and betrayal and desperate struggles for money and power. They are also times of rapid, unpredictable change, when England is trying to establish itself on the European stage, jealously guarding its sovereignty and determined not to allow any foreign countries any influence over its domestic policy.

It’s onto this stage that William Shakespeare steps, but not as the figure we’re familiar with. Rather than meeting an enigmatic playwright with a high forehead, an undistinguished moustache and a blank expression (from the only portrait that is definitely his) we encounter a kind of Elizabethan James Bond – dashing, tough, ingenious and witty. In short, the Brandreth Shakespeare is the perfect hero for a fast-moving historical romp.

And as a bonus for Shakespeare lovers, if we pay attention as the novel proceeds we get to identify some references to the plays. William’s friend Oldcastle, for example, is a dead ringer for Falstaff [1], while the arch-villain (confusingly known as Prospero [2]) is a match for Lago [3] in his malevolence. We also have one character in London exiting a scene hurriedly pursued by a bear [4], while in an Italian city, groups of young men pursue each other through the streets with murder on their minds [5].

So, if you’re a doublet and hose fan who also likes thrillers, you have a treat in store. The Spy of Venice offers a trip to a rapidly-shifting, violent world characterized by uncertainty and intrigue, as well as by political and religious turmoil. What a relief that it all happened over 400 years ago and that we live in such a different Europe today….

[1] Henry IV and Henry V

[1] The Tempest

[1] Othello

[1] The Winter’s Tale

[1] Romeo and Juliet

[1] Henry IV and Henry V

[2] The Tempest

[3] Othello

[4] The Winter’s Tale

[5] Romeo and Juliet

Gwyneth for the TripFiction Team

Over to Benet who has kindly agree do answer our questions!

TF: How did you hit on the idea for the book?

BB: I heard a passing reference to the idea that Shakespeare might have gone abroad, to Italy and it captured my imagination.  What did he do there? Why did he go?  The more I looked into it the more I realised that it would make the basis for a great adventure.  Shakespeare the man is an enigma, a great blank canvas on which to write, but in his seemingly magical understanding of people’s motives there was a hook for a defining trait for a hero.  Then when I began to read about sixteenth century Venice and the astonishing things that were happening there, courtesans who dressed as men, who were poets, who knew great artists, beautiful Roman noblewomen fleeing the Pope’s revenge, the plot lines suggested themselves.

TF: From this book you clearly have an affinity with Shakespeare, there are quite a few references to his works to be gleaned throughout the narrative. Can you tell us more about what he means to you?

BB: I’ve always been interested in Shakespeare’s writing but never knew much about the man himself.  Yet it is a fascinating question: how does a glover’s son from a small market town in England go on to become the greatest master of the English language we have ever known.  The book gave me an opportunity to explore that.

I thought I had part of the answer in his study of rhetoric, the art of persuasion, the study of the power of language, which would have been the sum and substance of an Elizabethan schoolboy’s education. It wasn’t enough.  Though rhetoric would have given him the tools of a playwright I wanted to understand what inspired him.  The book is an opportunity for me to explore themes I detect in his plays that may reflect what happened to him in life and the people he met.

Shakespeare’s mastery of language made it a challenge – how to honour the great man’s style and the language of the time without making it unreadable to a modern audience and without obviously falling far short of his genius.

TF: In our review we say that the Shakespeare in your novel is very relevant for readers in the 21st century, a kind of “James Bond – dashing, tough, ingenious and witty”. Is that something you consciously set out to achieve?

BB: I really wanted us to understand Shakespeare the man and to relate to him directly.  I didn’t need to strain too hard to do so.  One of the things one learns studying rhetoric is that although many outward things have changed in terms of technology, medicine, science and so forth, the way that people think hasn’t changed as much as we suspect.  We can still use Latin and Greek terms to describe fallacies of thought because we think in the same flawed ways that the Romans and the Greeks did.  Of course, part of Shakespeare’s genius is that in the plays, although his subject matter are events of hundreds of years past, he speaks to the universal experiences of the people in those events.  That is why the plays are still put on and still engage us four hundred years after the writer died.

TF: You clearly like Venice very much. Could you share your top tips for the city?

BB: I adore Venice.  It is an ideal holiday, mini-break or longer.  I suggest that you plant yourselves somewhere in the City and then just set out walking.  Venice is a wonderful city to simply stroll in, there are no cars, every corner turned reveals a new vista of great beauty, the food is delicious and the gentle-lapping of the ever-present water works its magic.

It is, however, crowded with tourists.  I suggest you avoid the main tourist destinations, Rialto Bridge, Doge’s Palace, the Academia or try to get there at quiet times – either out of season, February or March are good times to visit, or early in the morning.  A good trick for the Doge’s Palace is to go first to the Museo Correr where you can get a multi-attraction ticket and avoid queueing for the Doge’s Palace.  Go early in the morning and enjoy St Mark’s Square on your own before the tour groups arrive.  Search out the lesser known venues – you want to see great art – try the Scuola di San Rocco, for its Tintorettos or the Querini Stampalia.

And go informed, John Julius Norwich has written a delightfully gossipy history of the city that will allow you to enjoy the sights with greater insight as to their significance.

TF: What is next in terms of writing and travelling for you?

BB: I am working on the next book in the series.  William still has to make it back to England and there is plenty of adventure to be had before then.  Wisely, as a historical novelist, I chose to set my novels in very pleasant places to visit.  My research currently demands that I go to Verona – the hardship is immense.

TF: How did you first get into writing and what was the path to publication like?

BB: I was already a professional writer in the sense that my work as a barrister involved enormous amounts of writing which had given me an understanding of some important basics.  I had also been doing a lot of work on rhetoric with the Royal Shakespeare Company and others, which had given me insight into language and how it works.  Then I started doing comic story-telling at an event called Tall Tales in Kilburn, which is still going.  That led to an Edinburgh Show that I wrote and performed and that to a London run.  The show was very well-reviewed and I think that gave me credibility when I went to an agent with an idea for the book.  They were sufficiently encouraging that I wrote 50,000 on spec for that agent to look at.  Again, they were encouraging, so I kept going.  I had to scrap most of that 50,000 though.  Indeed, the published book is about 120,000 words but a further 2 or 300,000 went by the wayside to get there.  It was the third draft that my agent sent out.  Bonnier liked it and made an offer and then I began work on the fourth and final draft.  From start to finish the whole process took about five years.

In retrospect, if I had known how much hard work writing a novel was, I might have tried to write a play instead!

Thank you so much to Benet for his wonderfully informative answers.

You can catch him on Twitter, Facebook, and via his website

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For many more books set in and evocative of VENICE, just click here

The mask in the photo is from an amazing artisanal shop in Venice Gianni Cavalier, well worth a visit!

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