After rebellious, obstinate, and sensitive seven-year-old Emilia Bassano becomes the ward of two aristocratic women following her father’s sudden death, she develops the wherewithal to write plays attributed to Shakespeare. (Prequel to Shakespeare’s Conspirator)

After Emilia Bassano Lanyer hears dark secrets about her ancestry and starts composing her proto-feminist poetic volume, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, she is summoned by a retired Shakespeare to compile and edit his thirty-seven plays for posterity; and in doing so investigates, at her own peril, the Shakespeare authorship mystery.

A young Catholic woman seeks to reveal her family’s hidden heritage after evidence emerges hinting of a long-denied Jewish ancestry. As she pursues a disguised past, the saga of her ancestor’s escape from persecution, beginning with the Spanish Inquisition, comes to light. (Won the 2024 Arizona Literary Award for Best Novel / Novella.)

A slave becomes essential to the success of the Corps of Discovery, endures horrifying treatment, and desperately seeks emancipation. (A work-in progress.)