Could a treasure trove of 400-year-old letters constitute a previously unknown "diary" written by William Shakespeare? After 25 years of research, I believe the astonishing answer is yes. The Lost Letters of William Shakespeare: The Undiscovered Diary of his Strange Eventful Life and Loves reveal vibrant details from Shakespeare's arrival in London to the premiere of Titus Andronicus, his first play to be staged, along with political commentary on Elizabethan England (and surprising insight into how it affects us today); and a magnificent, but tragic, love story.
In 1989, I performed a one-man play about the life of William Shakespeare in London. "Miss B," an elderly woman was apparently sufficiently impressed by my impersonation of the Bard that she offered to show me some old, never-published letters that she believed were written by William Shakespeare. Although I was initially skeptical, it was an offer too good to pass up. What I discovered in these letters began to unravel almost everything I thought I knew about the great poet and playwright. My Prologue to The Lost Letters describes our meetings, more about my mysterious benefactor, and how - throughout my subsequent careers in business and public service - I spent over two decades decoding and researching what these letters had to say, in order to adapt this true story for the modern reader.
Through the letters, we learn that Shakespeare left home in 1586 as a jack-of-all-trades for a troupe of traveling players. His goal was to reach London and then sail to America in the hope of restoring his family's honor and finances. He wrote letters addressed to his friend John Combe, intending them as a record of his journey and his thoughts and feelings, so that his son, Hamnet (two years old in 1586) would know his father, in the event Shakespeare was unable to return to England. Because Shakespeare wanted to "report his cause aright," his letters are remarkably detailed and intimate. The Lost Letters uncover the truth about the earliest pilgrims to America and reveal that Shakespeare was kept closer to home, in part to fight in a pivotal battle for England against Spain. The Lost Letters also reveal his epic and tragic love affair with the young, beautiful Rosalind.
Although Shakespeare's son Hamnet never apparently saw these letters (and Shakespeare did return home without ever setting foot in North America), we are the beneficiaries of his observations of life in Elizabethan England. The Lost Letters reveal first-hand secrets about the rulers of the land (and those who sought to rule); secrets about Shakespeare's participation in the war with Spain (a war that changed history); bitter truths about Shakespeare's father, his wife Anne, and his patrons; and a heroic lady loved and lost.
Overall, these remarkable letters represent a wealth of as-yet-undiscovered knowledge about Shakespeare's relationships, personality, and career as he carved out his place in the chaotic world of 16th-century London. Whether you are a Shakespeare scholar, merely a fan, or even if you have never read any of his works, the stories of the The Lost Letters will enthrall you with their fascinating and true tale.
Terry Tamminen
Author Biography:
Although he studied theatre and spent several years performing and directing Shakespeare's plays, Terry Tamminen may be the most unlikely person to have discovered The Lost Letters of William Shakespeare.. He studied Theatre Arts at California State University Northridge; directed the Burbank Civic Light Opera and Malibu Summerstage Theatre; served as the resident Shakespeare lecturer for the Los Angeles Music Center Education Division; and wrote "Will Power", the life of William Shakespeare, a one-man play that he performed in the US, Europe, and Africa. While performing the play in England in 1989, he discovered the lost letters of William Shakespeare and has been researching their authenticity and context for over two decades. A United States Coast Guard-licensed ship captain, Terry has long been drawn to the undersea world and to the preservation of ocean resources including studies on conch depletion in the Bahamas, manatee populations in Florida coastal waters, and mariculture in the Gulf States with Texas A&M University. He founded the non-profit Santa Monica BayKeeper in 1993 and serves today on the Board of Directors of the International Waterkeeper Alliance. He later served as the Executive Director of the Environment Now Foundation in Santa Monica, CA and co-founded the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at the School of Law, University of California Los Angeles. In the summer of 2003, Terry helped Arnold Schwarzenegger win the historic recall election and become Governor of California. He was appointed as the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in November 2003 and was later appointed Cabinet Secretary, the Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor. During his service in state government, Terry was the architect of many groundbreaking sustainability policies, including the Hydrogen Highway Network, the Million Solar Roofs initiative, California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, and the creation of over a million acres of "ocean parks" along California's coastline. In February 2007, Terry founded the non-profit organization Seventh Generation Advisors to help other states and world governments adopt clean energy and sustainability polices based on California's successes. He was named the Cullman Senior Fellow for climate policy at The New America Foundation and has advised global companies and institutional investors on sustainability, including Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, Netjets, Pegasus Capital Advisors, California's pension funds, and the University of California Regents Endowment. In 2008, Terry served as an energy and climate change policy advisor to presidential candidate Barak Obama and has continued to advise his Energy Secretaries and USEPA Administrators since then. In 2010 Terry co-founded the R20 Regions of Climate Action in collaboration with the United Nations, a new public-private partnership, bringing together sub-national governments; businesses; financial markets; NGOs; and academia to implement measurable, large-scale, low-carbon and climate resilient economic development projects that can simultaneously solve the climate crisis and build a sustainable global economy. Terry joined forces with actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio in 2016 and serves today as CEO of his Foundation. Learn more at http: //leonardodicaprio.org Terry Tamminen was named Vanity Fair's May 2007 Environmental Hero and in TIME Magazine's 2007 Earthday edition, he was featured in the "51 Things We Can Do" section. In 2008, The Guardian ranked Terry No. 1 in its "Top 50 People Who Can Save the Planet." In 2009, Tamminen was named an "Eco Baron" in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes's book, Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet. In 2011, Terry was one of six finalists for the Zayed Future Energy Prize.
