Shakespeare was a woman! A tale of Lady Anne and the Earl. Little Anne Burghley meets the boy Edward DeVere, who teaches her how to read—a meeting and a skill with lifelong meaning for her. Her eventual marriage to Oxford soon makes for overturned hearts, but later reunion brings happiness in parenthood and literary partnership. After Anne’s early death, Oxford organizes and edits her writings, including many plays. To protect her name (and his) from the stigma of playwrights, he attributes the plays to William Shakespeare. His besotted second wife destroys all evidence of Anne’s playwriting, intending Oxford to receive full credit for the Shakespeare plays from future unprejudiced historians.