By Any Other Name – Jodi Picoult (2024)

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult, published in 2024, is a dual-timeline historical and contemporary novel that weaves together the lives of two women – one a present-day playwright, the other a 16th-century poet who may have inspired some of Shakespeare’s greatest works. Known for her compelling explorations of justice, identity, and social issues, Picoult delivers a thought-provoking narrative that delves into the erasure and reclamation of women’s voices across centuries. With strong thematic links to literary history, feminism, and the power of storytelling, the novel is an ambitious blend of biographical fiction and modern drama.

Plot Summary

Melina Green’s voice had always been her sharpest weapon, even when she barely had the courage to use it. Raised in the shadow of a mother slowly dying and a father consumed by grief, she learned early how to disappear. But disappearing didn’t stop the world from touching her – it only made it easier for others to overlook when they did. By the time she arrived at Bard College, she had wrapped herself in armor made of intellect and sarcasm, a playwright with an edge, who kept her own story carefully sealed away. Until Professor Bufort, with his silver hair and charm long gone to seed, decided to shape her into something more. He called her talented. He called her sterile. He told her to bleed. And so she did.

She wrote Reputation, a stripped-bare play where the characters bore no names, only roles: The Girl. The Boy. The Nemesis. The Father. The Girl, invisible in her grief, caught in the gaze of an older boy who saw her not for who she was but for what he could take. She said no. He said yes mattered more. What followed was not a love story, but a theft – of truth, of dignity, of narrative. The audience applauded. Professor Bufort did not. He wanted her blood, but not like this.

The play’s public reading ended with an unscripted scene. The Girl, years older now, caught in the hands of another man who touched her shoulders and whispered the same words Bufort had once said. The illusion cracked. And the critic – Jasper Tolle, cold and glittering with prestige – deemed it over-sentimental, too personal, too small. He told Melina that she was difficult. She told him nothing, but walked away with a fire in her gut.

When her thesis was returned with a C+ scrawled on it – the only blemish on an otherwise flawless academic record – Melina knew the price of honesty. She had stepped forward, had told the truth as art, and was cast out for it. Her world shrank to her apartment above a Thai restaurant, her friendship with Andre – fierce and unwavering – and the stacks of paper she could no longer bring herself to write on. Until a packet from her father arrived, containing a name that had long been buried by time and patriarchy: Emilia Bassano.

A poet. A woman. A shadow behind the sun of Shakespeare. The first published female poet in England, whose works had been ignored, her voice repurposed, her legacy erased. Melina, raw and aching, reached for the past. And the past reached back.

Emilia Bassano, at twelve, already understood how to vanish. A ward of nobility, the pawn in a chess game she did not control, she built faerie houses beneath trees and imagined herself Titania, queen of something unseen. Her guardians – the Baron and Countess Bertie – argued over her as if she were an obligation rather than a child. Her mother, absent. Her father, dead. Her religion – Judaism – practiced in whispers behind shuttered windows.

She was clever. Too clever to be content as a decorative lady. She read French lais about werewolves and betrayals. She studied politics, court etiquette, the shifting moods of Queen Elizabeth’s court. She played music like breathing. And when she laughed, the world listened – for a moment. But power does not belong to girls who laugh. Power belonged to men like Lord Archley, who groped her beneath courtly silks, and to men like the Baron, who sent her to Denmark as baggage on a diplomatic voyage.

The ship nearly drowned her. She bled for days, hidden behind locked doors and linen bandages. No one noticed. No one cared. In Denmark, she stood before the king and queen with blood running down her legs and smiled. She was tested. She passed.

Returned to England, Emilia found herself suddenly valuable. Not as a poet – never that. But as a mistress. At fourteen, she was given to Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, a man old enough to be her grandfather. She became his concubine and later bore him a son. He offered her rooms, servants, security. What he didn’t offer was respect. Yet Emilia adapted. She learned to flatter, to entertain, to survive. Her words – once written in hidden journals – became sharper, wiser. Still, no one read them.

Until she met the man with the golden pen and the empty pockets.

Will Shakespeare arrived in London a nobody. He was charming, theatrical, always on the brink of either genius or disaster. Emilia, fluent in poetry and metaphor, saw in him both a student and a rival. They exchanged ideas like lovers exchange breath. He borrowed her lines, her myths, her fire. She gave them, at first, willingly. But as the years passed and his fame grew, she watched her voice climb the stage in another man’s mouth. The Sonnets called her the Dark Lady. The plays spoke her truths. But no one said her name.

She wrote anyway. In secret. A book of religious poetry filled with coded rage and longing. She addressed it to women, veiling her Jewish identity and her scandalous past behind the language of the devout. It was published. No one cared. The world moved on.

Melina didn’t.

In the present, Melina chased Emilia’s ghost through dusty archives, through doubts and rejections and the bottomless hunger of not knowing where her voice belonged. She found a small theater willing to take a risk. She wrote By Any Other Name, a play where Emilia Bassano steps out of the shadows, demanding to be seen. The production was modest. The audience, uncertain. And then Jasper Tolle returned.

This time, he was older. This time, Melina was not afraid. The review came, scathing and dismissive. He called it speculative fiction, said it leaned too hard into feminist fantasy. But someone else wrote a different review. A woman. A survivor. A scholar. And soon the whispers grew louder.

The play spread. A West End company picked it up. Whispers became buzz. Melina was interviewed, profiled, debated. And in her growing fame, she carved a space for Emilia’s name, whispering it every time a reporter asked about inspiration. One woman raised a voice. Another carried it. The distance between them dissolved.

In her old apartment, above the Thai restaurant, Melina sat beside Andre, watching the reviews pour in. Outside, New York pulsed with noise and motion. Inside, silence stretched – warm, triumphant, earned.

She picked up her pen.

Main Characters

• Melina Green – A fiercely talented but emotionally guarded playwright in contemporary New York, Melina is a survivor of both familial neglect and academic betrayal. Her creative brilliance is matched by her inner turmoil, especially following a traumatic college experience involving harassment and the invalidation of her voice by male authority figures. Over time, she confronts her pain by channeling it into her art, gradually reclaiming agency in both her personal and professional life.

• Emilia Bassano – A young woman of exceptional intellect and poetic talent in Elizabethan England, Emilia is portrayed as the historical muse and possible author behind Shakespeare’s most enigmatic works. Born into a family of court musicians and raised within the intricacies of nobility and survival, she battles systemic gender limitations, religious oppression, and personal trauma. Emilia’s story is one of resilience, ambition, and the deep longing to be heard and remembered.

• Professor Bufort – Melina’s mentor at Bard College, Bufort is initially seen as a supportive figure, championing her talent. However, his inappropriate behavior and professional retaliation when Melina exposes his predatory nature make him a symbol of institutional power misused against vulnerable women.

• Andre – Melina’s witty and fiercely loyal best friend, Andre is a fellow playwright whose humor and emotional insight provide both levity and strength. His unwavering support helps Melina process her pain and stay grounded.

• Jasper Tolle – A sharp, celebrated theater critic for The New York Times, Jasper initially serves as a gatekeeper to success in the theatrical world. His dismissive and condescending critique of Melina’s deeply personal play becomes a pivotal moment in her disillusionment and eventual transformation.

Theme

• Erasure and Voice – Central to both timelines is the theme of women’s erasure from history and their fight to reclaim their narratives. Emilia’s contributions to literature are obscured by Shakespeare’s fame, while Melina’s voice is dismissed by patriarchal gatekeepers. The novel reclaims the lost voices of women and amplifies them through acts of defiant storytelling.

• Feminism and Gender Power Dynamics – The book starkly explores gender-based power imbalances, both in Elizabethan society and contemporary academia. It highlights how women’s talent, intellect, and autonomy are often overshadowed or exploited by men in positions of power.

• Trauma and Resilience – Personal trauma – from sexual coercion to academic sabotage – shapes the journeys of both protagonists. Picoult delves into the psychological scars left by betrayal and abuse, yet focuses equally on the resilience required to transmute pain into purpose.

• Art as Reclamation – Writing, both poetry and playwriting, serves as a means of healing and empowerment. Emilia’s poems and Melina’s plays are not just creative expressions but acts of rebellion against silence and marginalization.

• Historical Revisionism and Authorship – The novel boldly engages with the Shakespeare authorship debate, proposing that a woman – and a woman of color – may have played a key role in the formation of the English literary canon. Through this, Picoult challenges dominant narratives and invites readers to reimagine literary history.

Writing Style and Tone

Jodi Picoult’s writing in By Any Other Name is layered and lyrical, deftly switching between two timelines with distinct voices. In the contemporary sections, the prose is sharp, emotionally charged, and often infused with dark humor, reflecting Melina’s inner world and the stark realities of the modern theatrical landscape. In contrast, the historical chapters are richly textured, evoking the sights, smells, and sociopolitical complexities of Elizabethan England. Picoult’s attention to historical detail, combined with poetic flourishes and emotional immediacy, gives Emilia’s chapters a dramatic and immersive quality.

The tone oscillates between introspective and confrontational, depending on the era and character. In Melina’s story, the tone is often raw, cynical, and defiant – capturing a woman clawing back her voice from the people who tried to silence her. Emilia’s tone is more subdued yet poignant, steeped in yearning and the quiet rebellion of intellect and creativity in a world that seeks to mute her. Through both, Picoult crafts a seamless dialogue across time, uniting two women separated by centuries but bonded by struggle, artistry, and an unrelenting desire to be remembered.