Lawrence Wells knows how to tell an entertaining story, and his latest, Ghostwriter: Shakespeare, Literary Landmines, and an Eccentric Patron’s Royal Obsession (University of Mississippi Press 2024), is a humdinger. The manuscript was awarded the 2014 Faulkner-Wisdom Prize for narrative nonfiction at the Words and Music Festival in New Orleans. Even readers who are not Shakespeare fans will enjoy the travel tales and perhaps will see themselves mirrored in the story of Wells’s wife as the passenger tagged the “Navigator,” as they motor through England. What couple has not fretted aloud as their partner drives?
Wit and intelligence salt the narrative voice describing Wells’s adventures as a ghostwriter for a wealthy geriatric. Gertrude Ford—or Mrs. F as Wells refers to her—is obsessed with Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. She is convinced de Vere is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. Not that unusual. Many have questioned whether an uneducated man like Will Shakespeare could have produced what is considered to be the world’s finest canon of literature. But Mrs. F takes it further. Way further. She believes she could be “the reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth eternally in love with Edward de Vere.” Mrs. F is definitely eccentric. Quite possibly a few cards short of a full deck. Despite her peculiarities, the University of Mississippi pays great attention to her. Why? She promises to fund a new theater complex for Ole Miss if they locate a writer to promote her theories. The English Department laughs—no way any of them are going to ruin their careers. Enter Wells, an unemployed author, who is persuaded by university officials to help Mrs. F write a book proving her authorship theory.
From the first page to the last, Wells’s talent shines as he paints the personalities of the people he encounters. There’s the foul-mouthed, bed-ridden Mrs. F, surrounded by five yappy chihuahuas. She commands that Wells sit beside her on the bed to read his latest chapters. She subsists on Oreos and bourbon. Like a seasoned spy, she tracks him down no matter where he hides, demanding to know his progress. Kinkiest of all, she insists on spicing up the book with bodice-ripping sex:
“Our ghostwriting adventure is about bringing hope and joy into her life. Husband dead, house quiet at night—too quiet, tree limb brushing the rain gutter, shadows stirring at the window, nightmares of light-fingered maids, no fulfillment in a bag of diamonds. Let’s get Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare into bed, run our hands through the plays and sonnets, spill plots and characters through our fingers. There’s life in that rich clutter if we can bring it seething into the bedchamber.”
Mrs. F takes her argument even further. She believes the Virgin Queen and the Earl of Oxford produced a child—and that Princess Diana is the direct descendant of that union:
“She is fascinated with a Shakesperean scholar named Percy Allen, who held a séance and claimed that the ghost of Edward de Vere confirmed that he was Shakespeare and that Queen Elizabeth secretly gave birth to their son, Henry.”
Wells’s wife Dean, also adds sparkle to this story. She is the niece of William Faulkner—another Oxford connection, albeit Oxford, Mississippi. Wells notes the similarities between the two men:
“For the twin bards of England and Mississippi, the preferred manner of escape from work was drink, sex, and dangerous games. De Vere risked his neck in the joust, seduced a queen, and sailed Brussels to avoid an arranged marriage. Faulkner joined the Royal Air Force, was a barnstorming pilot, and experience a passionate affair in Hollywood. What they had in common was literary genius. The artist allows nothing to come between him and his goals.”
Although Dean has little interest in the de Vere theory, she reluctantly accompanies her husband to England to conduct research. She attempts to restrain her husband from pushing Mrs. F’s theory into every conversation, but her presence adds humor because of her own obsession: the crumbling marriage of Charles and Diana. It is the focus of tabloid headlines that summer, and Dean inserts the royal marriage into every discussion.
As the author and his wife tour England, various fragments of evidence for de Vere’s authorship are considered. For example, ultrared analysis revealed The Folger Library’s Ashbourne portrait of William Shakespeare is “actually a portrait of Edward de Vere with this seal ring painted over.” The library then removed the painting. But historians Wells encounters also mention convincing evidence disputing de Vere as the author, such as the inconvenient fact that he died in 1604 well before many of the plays were written.
Wells makes no attempt to take sides in the authorship controversy in this book. Rather, he weaves together his travels with his wife, his relationship with his patron, the mystery of Elizabeth’s “royal bastard,” and imaginative fragments of the historical fiction Wells is penning for Mrs. F.
The result is truly fine creative nonfiction, a work as far from a dull history textbook as you can get. To my surprise, this book about the authorship question proved to be a page-turner. I read it in one day. Another surprise: sprinkled among the humorous scenes are moments of truth, such as this:
“Very few are a William Shakespeare, or a William Faulkner, for that matter, but there’s a little bit of genius in everyone. It emerges when we need it most.”
Ahhh—we can hope this is true. There are also touching revelations, such as his wife encouraging him when his adventures as a ghostwriter ends to “write something that moves you, something honest and true.” This, she knows, will fulfill him in a way that writing for money cannot. Perhaps the most touching scene of all occurs near the end between the author and Mrs. F, but you will have to read the book for yourself to appreciate its poignance. Read it for the controversy of the literary mystery. Read it for the characters, the travelogue or the humor. But do read it. Reading Ghostwriter is time well spent.
Lawrence Wells
Photo by Robert Jordan
Lawrence Wells is the author of a memoir, In Faulkner’s Shadow, about his thirty-eight-year marriage to Dean Faulkner Wells. He is also the author of two historical novels, Rommel and the Rebel and Let the Band Play Dixie. A third novel, Fair Youth, which he ghostwrote for Gertrude C. Ford, is to be published in 2024. And in case you were wondering, yes, Ole Miss got its grand theater complex funded.
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