The Player's Boy

The orphaned James Sands anticipated a magnificent career as apprentice to an Elizabethan theater troupe. But when his masters die unexpectedly, Sands must fight for his art, his home, and ultimately his life as the violent reign of James I overshadows the glory of the Elizabethan era. An historical novel with profound contemporary reverberations.

"Shakespeare in Love" meets "Oliver Twist" in this Elizabethan story of adventure, loyalty, and the stage.

Library Journal

Released in 1953, this historical novel follows James Sands, an apprentice in the Elizabethan theater, whose life is turned inside out when his master dies and he is cut loose to fend for himself. His wanderings are set against a backdrop of the violence that spread across the English countryside following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Bryher (1894-1983) wrote many critically acclaimed novels and memoirs during her lifetime. She was deeply involved in film, politics, and psychology. She funded Contact Editions, and edited Life and Letters To-day and the first English film journal, Close Up. She was the longtime companion of H.D., and a generous supporter of numerous writers, artists, psychoanalysts, and culture icons, including Marianne Moore, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, and Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company.

Patrick Gregory is an editor, translator, and the author of the novel The Dagguereotype. He is the son of poet, translator, and critic Horace Gregory and poet Marya Zaturenska, who were intimate friends with Bryher. He now lives in Northampton, MA and South Halifax, VT.