The Lambs Of London

A tour de force in the tradition of Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor and Chatterton, a gripping novel of betrayal and deceit set in the teeming streets of 19th-century London.
At the centre of this intriguing, irresistible novel are the young Lambs: Charles, constrained by the tedium of his work as clerk at the East India Company, taking refuge in a drink or three too many while spreading his wings as a young writer, and his clever, adoring sister Mary, confined by domesticity, an ailing, dotty father and a maddening mother . . . Into their lives comes William Ireland, an ambitious 17-year-old antiquarian and bookseller, anxious not only to impress his demanding showman of a father, but to make his mark on the literary world. When Ireland turns up a document in the handwriting of Shakespeare himself, he takes Mary into his confidence - but soon scholars and actors alike are beating a path to the little bookshop in Holborn Passage.
Touching and tragic, ingenious, funny and vividly alive, this is Ackroyd at the top of his form in a masterly retelling of a 19th-century drama which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.

From the author of "Chatterton" and "Shakespeare: A Biography" comes a gripping novel set in London that re-imagines an infamous 19th-century Shakespeare forgery.
Charles and Mary Lamb, who will in time achieve lasting fame as the authors of "Tales from Shakespeare for Children," are still living at home, caring for their dotty and maddening parents. Reading Shakespeare is the siblings' favorite reprieve, and they are delighted when an ambitious young bookseller comes into their lives claiming to possess a ' lost' Shakespearea play. Soon all of London is eagerly anticipating opening night of a star-studded production of the play not knowing that they have all been duped by charlatan and a fraud.