The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel / Arthur Phillips / 368 pages / RA - Literary Fiction

The Tragedy of Arthur is an emotional and elaborately constructed tour de force from “one of the best writers in America” (The Washington Post). Its doomed hero is Arthur Phillips, a young novelist struggling with a con artist father who works wonders of deception. Imprisoned for decades and nearing the end of his life,  Arthur’s father reveals a treasure he’s kept secret for half a century: The Tragedy  of Arthur, a previously unknown play by William Shakespeare. Arthur and his twin sister inherit their father’s mission: to see the manuscript published and  acknowledged as the Bard’s last great gift to humanity . . .unless it’s their father’s last great con. By turns hilarious and haunting, this virtuosic novel, which includes Shakespeare’s (?) lost play in its entirety, brilliantly subverts our notions of truth, fiction, genius, and identity, as the two Arthurs—the novelist and the ancient king-- play out their strangely intertwined fates.  Comparable titles suggested:   Big Fish by Daniel Wallace and Theft by Peter Carey.