Why Jodi Picoult’s Newest Novel Is the One I Should Write (Exclusive)

Jodi Picoult has written 29 books in her three-decade career and has finally landed on the book she feels destined to write. “I don’t know if I believe in reincarnation,” says the 58-year-old author. “But I feel like this is the story I should tell.”

Her new novel Under a different nameout August 20, tells the stories on two timelines of Emilia Bassano, a real woman who some historians say may have been behind Shakespeare’s work, and Melina Green, a fictional modern playwright who finds success by using the name of her black roommate.

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Delving into the age-old controversy surrounding Shakespeare’s authorship is not such a far-fetched undertaking for Picoult, as her previous novels have tackled controversial topics such as abortion, racism, school shootings, and many more.

And although such notable figures as Helen Keller, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and even some Supreme Court justices agree with the theory that Shakespeare did not work alone, she has already faced criticism from some academics who call her a “conspiracy theorist.”

“There’s an extra layer to it when you consider that it could have been a woman,” Picoult adds. “I didn’t write this book because I’m a raving lunatic. I wrote this book because this is the information I found. And it certainly convinced me.”

Under a different name draws on extensive research into Bassano and the workings of the theatre world in Shakespeare’s time, and provides clues about the role the Bard actually played. And the more the novel lays these foundations, the more convincing the idea becomes that the celebrated playwright did not act alone.

“Considering that everyone (in the theater) worked together back then, nothing was copyrighted… it was by no means a fancy business,” emphasizes Picoult, pointing out that Shakespeare also worked as an actor and producer at the time.

“How do you explain the fact that when the man died he didn’t own a single book? There were no unfinished manuscripts or papers lying around, nothing in his will,” she continues. “And when he died, not a single other playwright of the time said, ‘Oh, what a loss!’… I always thought it would actually be stranger if Shakespeare had all these pieces written.”

Although she admits that she is excited about the subject, this is nothing new for the author. She has to be “kept awake at night” so that an idea can become a novel.

In the case of Under a different nameit is not only the question of authorship, but also the gender of the real author that has got them riled up. In Shakespeare’s time, women were forbidden to publish, so it was not unusual for them to write under male pseudonyms or “borrow” the name of a male author.

“To write the best book I can write, I have to write about something that excites me,” she explains. Her own experiences as a stage writer inspired her to make it a dual-timeline story that also follows a modern woman trying to break into the male-dominated field and the problems she encounters along the way. “I wanted to talk about how little has changed in 400 years,” she says.

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But just like her characters, Picoult is undaunted by the haters. “I’m not here to convince you. I’m here to lay out everything I’ve learned and let you make your own decisions,” she explains. “If we can open one mind, then a book is worth it.”

Under a different name will be published on August 20th by Ballantine Books and can be pre-ordered now wherever the book is sold.