“Fair Youth” was named a finalist by the 2024 Hawthorne prize awards.
Fair Youth, a fictional sequel to Wells’ new memoir “Ghostwriter” (University Press of Mississippi, 2024) is the novel that Wells ghostwrites for his literary patron, “Mrs. F.” A historical novel set in the Renaissance, Fair Youth explores the legend that a romance between Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, 20, Lord Great Chamberlain, and Queen Elizabeth I, 37, produced a son, Henry, born in secret, who grew up to become the universally acclaimed “Fair Youth” of Shakespeare’s sonnets. When Queen Elizabeth refuses to acknowledge Henry, however, he joins the Essex Rebellion and makes a vain attempt to seize the throne by force. He is sentenced to death but at Oxford’s request Elizabeth reluctantly orders the sentence commuted.
FAIR YOUTH, a historical novel by Lawrence Wells (Sanctuary Editions, 2024) $24.95, paperback, 248 pages, ISBN 9780916242930. Sanctuary Editions is an imprint of Yoknapatawpha Press.