Nat Field is a boy from the American South who joins a company of boys from across the country to travel to London and perform Shakespeare's plays in the recreated Globe Theatre. One night during the rehearsal period he falls ill and swaps places with another boy from 1599 who was being loaned to act with Lord Chamberlain's Men at the original Globe! The unpleasant realities of Elizabethan London are a challenge for Nat, but he grows to enjoy the camaraderie of the company and a bond with William Shakespeare himself. This is an enjoyable historical fantasy, and I think for young readers would be a good introduction to Shakespeare and 17th-century history. ( )

One of those time travel, but not really books, where a modern child ends up in a historical time. Seemed too shallow for me even to begin reading.

Time travel and Shakespeare...all read in a gravely voice. Such fun. ( )

I read this book during my O Levels, as it was part of the exam and I had to study it. But I think this was the first time that I read a book that I was supposed to be studying and really enjoyed it. Did this book spark my immense love of Shakespeare? Probably. I love Shakespeare more than most things in this world. But maybe there’s more to it than just that. This book is the kind of book that I read and think to myself, ‘Damn, I wish I had written that.’
Nat Field is a brilliant, young American actor who has been chosen by a very strict and eccentric director to perform in a Company of Boys who are set to perform at the New Globe (this story takes place in 1999). They’re going to perform Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream just the way that Shakespeare intended it – with only male actors. Nat is to play Puck, the witty spirit who causes most of the trouble in the play. And Nat is good at what he does and he’s excited. But on his arrival in England, Nat falls deathly ill and wakes up in the year 1599. He finds out that he is to take part in William Shakespeare’s production of The Dream that is to be performed for the Queen herself, and nobody seems to know that he isn’t actually the real Nathanial Field who’s place he has taken.
This story is so moving in so many ways. I love the way that we see the London of 1599 through the eyes of a young boy who’s barely a teenager yet. I love how Nat’s dark past is brought up in the story in a very realistic way and how he clings to a father figure that he finds in this new London. I love how he deals with the culture shock of being back in his regular time when he travels back and how hurt he is that he had to leave everything behind. And I especially love how the whole time travel thing is explained and ties together in the end. I love that there are so few loose ends in this novel and I love that, for once, William Shakespeare is written as such a human character, because at the end of the day, genius that he was he was still a human being with urges and emotions and quirks, and this novel does a wonderful way of portraying a side of Shakespeare that I wish more people thought about. Historically accurate? Probably not. But one side of the story that we rarely get to see.
I think one of my biggest qualms with this story is that, even though it’s very well researched and the descriptions are so good (I’ve been to the Globe many times, and so it helped for me to be able to picture the way that the stage looked and everything), the speech is a little strange. There seem to be a lot of thee and thou in this story even though I’m pretty sure that those expressions weren’t used unless you were talking to people that you didn’t know very well (a Tu-Vous situation as they would call it in linguistics). Now my linguistic knowledge is limited to the few credits I did at university, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
But otherwise? Wow. What a brilliant novel, even if it is written for young adults. If you love Shakespeare in any sort of way, you need to read this book. It’s well written, it’s got a good story, and it actually is very well researched. And bonus points, it won’t take long to read!
Final rating is a good 4/5 because no matter how old I get, I think I’ll always love this book. ( )

This is a YA novel, but the characters are rich and the plot intriguing. ( )