Jodi Picoult talks to Julia Wheeler

Get an exclusive preview of Jodi Picoult’s new novel By Any Other Name, to be published in October. Moving between Elizabethan England and modern-day Manhattan, it explores the theme of identity and the ways in which two women, centuries apart – one of whom might be the real author of Shakespeare’s plays – are both forced to hide behind another name to make their voices heard. Jodi Picoult describes her 29th novel as the “book of my heart”, the one she was destined to write. She describes the sleuthing she carried out to establish her character Emilia’s links to Shakespeare, and her personal experiences as playwright and author.