“Road to London” is a breath-taking book with “plots, treason and drama!”
The main character is Thomas Munmore. He likes acting and his hero is William Shakespeare. Thomas doesn’t want to learn in a school where your masters give you really bad punishments. He doesn’t want to learn in a school where you have to stay at your desk and read Latin texts, sweating and with flies buzzing around your head. No, he wants have “an actor’s life”. “An exciting life filled with fame and fortune.”
Thomas Munmore lives in Stratford with his father, his older sister, Beth, and his younger brother, John. “I am sick of school. I am sick of beatings.” is what Thomas says every time. One day, he gets into serious trouble: he has been caught... poaching. To tell the truth, I didn’t quite understand what “poaching” meant, but I found out only one thing about it: “Poaching was a dangerous game, and I had just lost.” Beth tells Thomas that he has to leave Stratford, so he can get out of trouble. Thomas has already a direction: London.
In London, he meets William Shakespeare and joins the Chamberlain’s Men. Soon, he makes a friend called Alice Trowte. She doesn’t have an easy life, either. Her family is poor. She lives with her mother and her two younger brothers, Willum and Jack, in a very small house. One day, Alice decides to work for an apothecary. She soon finds out that the apothecary (called Gideon de Laine) had just sold a poison for a man called Sir Walter Loddington and his servant, John Sturley. (“A drop on an earring will be sufficient.” The gentleman smiled a wicked twisted smile and told Master de Laine that they had a pair of earrings ready. “Emeralds.” he said. “A gift for Her Majesty at the Christmas festivities.”) Alice listens to the conversation between Gideon de Laine and Sir Walter Loddington. She is caught listening and she gets into serious trouble (just like Thomas did!). She doesn’t know where to go. She can’t go home because Gideon de Laine knows where she lives. Thomas tells her that she can join the Chamberlain’s Men. He knows that Alice loves acting very much. The problem is that, in those days, girls and women weren’t allowed to play on the stage. Alice pretends that she is a boy named Barnaby. Master Shakespeare is quite impressed of Alice’s (no, sorry, Barnaby’s) talent. She (I mean, he... Och, you get the idea!) can’t read, but she has a very good mind; she can remember many lines from Master Shakespeare’s plays.
This whole “Barnaby” thing doesn’t last for a long time... Master Shakespeare finds out that Barnaby is actually a girl... He can’t leave behind such a wonderful talent, so he decides to keep Alice in the Chamberlain’s Men...
Thomas and Alice show a lot of courage saving Queen Elizabeth from the poisoned earrings and the three bad men, Masters de Laine and Liddington and John Sturley. This book is for London and William Shakespeare fans. Join Thomas and Alice in their exciting adventure, by reading the book! :)
My favorite character is Alice. Even though she is just a poor girl, she is quite intelligent and brave. I like it how she can remember a lot of lines from Master Shakespeare’s plays. She has quite an active mind! :)
The part I liked best is when, at the opening of Master Shakespeare’s new theatre (The Globe), Queen Elizabeth came. Thomas saw her, but nobody believed him. Only Master Shakespeare... (“There was only one person who believed me and that was Master Shakespeare. When I told him who I had seen, he winked and nodded as if to say, Yes, Thomas. We know, don’t we?”)
I didn’t like the part when Thomas’s master gave Thomas a horrible punishment for missing an afternoon class... (“Bend over, Munmore.” he said, relishing the thought of the flogging, while I broke out into such a sweat that I can scarcely remember leaning over the bench. (...) His leering face was the last thing I saw before the pain of the first stroke shot through me. After that, I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth. One lash. Two. Three lashes. Four. On and on it went and with every stroke I thought of London... London... London.”)
I give the book five stars, because the story is very good! Because I like London and William Shakespeare’s plays, this book was perfect for me! :)
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