Your summer journey begins with a single page – By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult is waiting. 

What's the book about?

New York playwright Melina Green has never seen her work on stage. In a man’s world, only through a lie can she get the recognition she yearns for. But Melina is not the first woman in her family to discover this. Her ancestor Emilia Bassano, mistress to one of Elizabeth I’s most valued noblemen, was no stranger to being silenced.

She decided to do something about it. But her daring act of deception has consequences that will reverberate down the centuries. Yet to change a world can mean terrible sacrifices – your name, your family’s future and your legacy.

These two women will never meet. But together can they rewrite history? 

Start by diving into a free extract, then grab your copy here! 

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About the author 

Jodi Picoult is the author of 29 novels, with 40 million copies sold worldwide. 

She has had 17 Sunday Times number one bestsellers. Five novels have been made into movies and Between the Lines has been adapted as a musical, so you can always delve deeper if you love her books. She's received multiple awards, including the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction and the Alex Award from the YA Library Services Association. She is also the co-writer for the musicals Breathe and The Book Thief, which debuted in the UK in 2022. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband. 

Reviews 

‘Her best one yet. Jodi Picoult has combined her trademark research with an astonishing and heart-rending story, embedded in truth, and turned it into a gripping novel’ - Jojo Moyes 

‘You’ll fall in love with Emilia Bassano, the unforgettable heroine based on a real woman that Picoult brings vividly to life in her brilliantly researched new novel. Jodi Picoult’s books always start passionate conversations, and this one is sure to get people talking. Book clubs will embrace this rich, inspiring story’ - Kristin Hannah 

Craving your next summer escape between the pages now? We've got you covered! Dive into another sizzling Penguin pick right here... 

Author Q&A 

We sat down with Jodi to ask her a few questions on writing, holidays and much, much more... 

Tell us about your fabulous new book ‘By Any Other Name’?  

“It’s a story about how women have been written out of history by the men who were writing it, and how women's voices have both been silenced in the past and are still being silenced today.  

‘By Any Other Name’ follows two different women. The first is a real-life historical figure named Emilia Bassano. She was a playwright in the 1580s who couldn't get her work in front of the public because she was a female playwright in Elizabethan England. So, she decides to take a man's name as a pseudonym in order to get her work performed publicly on the stage. And I think that man's name was William Shakespeare... 

It's also about her fictional descendant – a woman named Melina Green, who has written a play about her ancestor, Emelia. But she can't get it to Broadway because Broadway is still a very male-dominated world. And so, the question is whether she will write herself out of history in order to see her work on the stage. It's very much a book about how much has changed for women in 400 years, but maybe, more importantly, how much has not.” 

In what ways do you research destinations for your books, especially places you haven't visited?  

“It really depends on the book. There are times that I will actually go to a location and try to walk around with someone who has the job or the life that my characters do, so that I can learn more from them. In many cases, it's a place where you almost have to immerse yourself in order to understand what it's like. When I was writing Plain Truth, I spent time with the Amish in Pennsylvania, in an Amish community, because that was the best way to understand what that group was like. 

When I wrote about the death penalty in Change of Heart, I flew to Arizona, and I talked to a warden at a facility where they are still performing executions. 

Interestingly, with By Any Other Name, I did not do research in England specifically for this book while I was writing it. I'd been to England before, but most of my research was done with individuals via Zoom – people who were experts, academic, Shakespearean scholars, people who worked at the Globe. And I didn't go back to England until after the book was written, when I happened to be there for a theatre project and wound up living less than a mile away from where Emelia Bassano's grave is likely to be, although it's unmarked. 

I basically spent every morning walking around London because, nothing really changes in London. Even though some of the streets have changed, the names of the streets, or buildings have cropped up – everything that Emelia experienced in the 1580s is something that I could still walk to today. So, I've kind of created my own personal walking tour of Emelia Bassano's life in London. Maybe one day I'll invite other people on it!”. 

Do you prefer to write about real locations or create entirely fictional settings? 

“It really depends on the book. Sometimes, I want to put in real locations to give almost like a geographic map to the people who are reading it so they can say ‘’Oh, I know exactly where this is, I know exactly what kind of people live there, I know exactly what the political climate is there or the ethos’’. But there are other times when I will fictionally create a town. I did that in Mad Honey, when I created a town in New Hampshire. When I wrote My Sister's Keeper, I created a town in Rhode Island. And sometimes, that's just because if something big is happening in the book, like a murder, I don't want to saddle a real town with that kind of fictional drama”.   

QUICKFIRE ROUND 

Beach holiday or city break?   

“Beach holiday”. 

Hotel or villa?  

“Hotel”. 

What’s your favourite book, ever?  

“My favourite book ever? That's a really hard one. I'm gonna go with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue”. 

What are you reading right now?  

“Right now, I’m reading The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis”. 

What are 3 words to describe yourself?  

“Determined, curious and compassionate”. 

What is the one thing you always travel with?  

“The one thing I always travel with are my haircare products – there's a lot of curls here and I definitely need frizz control!”. 

Bookmark or dog-eared pages? 
“I don't bookmark or dog-ear pages because I tend to read on a Kindle and that's because you can carry more books on a Kindle”. 

Do you like to write whilst you’re away or is a holiday a holiday?  

“A holiday is supposed to be a holiday, but that doesn’t mean I don’t end up doing work on it!”. 

Sample adventurous local food or stick to what you know?  

“When you’re abroad, you must eat whatever the locals eat! That’s part of the fun of travelling”. 

Window or aisle seat?  

“Definitely an aisle seat because I have to get up and use the loo”. 

Sunlounger with your name on it or a fun-packed itinerary? 

“Sunlounger with my name on it all the way”. 

Do you pack your books or bulk buy in the airport?  

“I don't buy books in the airport, and I don't pack them either because they're too heavy (and those haircare products take up a lot of space). But I do load a tonne onto my Kindle before I travel”. 

Solo trip or time with the family?  

“I would never do a solo trip. I don't like traveling alone. I want to be with people and experience that with them”. 

What will be your summer read?  

“I think my big summer read is going to be a surprise book by Ali Hazelwood called Problematic Summer Romance. I mean, what's more perfect?”. 

Eager to know more? Watch Jodi’s full Q&A video here.