| Italic Title: | Yes |
| The Marlowe Papers | |
| Author: | Ros Barber |
| Country: | England |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Pub Date: | 2012 |
The Marlowe Papers is a novel by Ros Barber published in 2012. It won the Hoffman Prize in 2011,[1] the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2013[2] and was joint-winner of the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.[3]
The novel, written in blank verse,[4] is a story about the English 16th century poet Christopher Marlowe, contemporary of William Shakespeare. In this tale, Marlowe's murder in 1593 is a fake and he lives on to write the plays and poems ascribed to Shakespeare.[5]
The Desmond Elliott Prize judges called the book a "unique historical conspiracy story". According to Barber, she has encountered hostility because of the novel's Marlovian premise. She says, "It's a work of fiction. You can believe that Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the works and still enjoy it."[6]
The book was adapted as a play by Barber and Nicola Haydn, performed by Jamie Martin in 2016.[7]