993. The Lambs of London

The Lambs of London
Peter Ackroyd
2004

Around 215 pages

I can't remember what it was, but something once sent me down the rabbit hole of the Lambs' Wikipedia pages. For those of you who don't know, Charles and Mary Lamb were siblings who are famous for the Tales of Shakespeare for children. Oh, and Mary stabbed their mother to death.

But this novel is focused more on William Ireland, who claims to have a long lost Shakespeare play, which naturally excites these odd siblings. I love Shakespeare, so I enjoyed all the allusions and fan-girling, although I did find myself thinking "okay, calm down" with some of their praise. I am pretty sure people were jealous before Othello, and were in love before Romeo and Juliet.

Ackroyd's novels are always incredibly well-researched, but they fail to really excite me and just seem like overhyped mystery novels. And the endings of mystery novels really have to pack a punch to leave an impact, which wasn't the case here.

If you're a Shakespeare fan, it's an enjoyable enough read. Otherwise, it's just so-so.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Ackroyd said he is very happy being celibate.

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