By Lily Yengle

Photo Courtesy of www.austinchronicle.com

Breaking news: a single surviving copy of the lost Shakespeare play The Tragedy of Arthur has been discovered after remaining hidden for centuries.

The play was unearthed by Arthur Phillips, passed down to him by his father, and Arthur should be thrilled by this discovery. Suddenly there are publishers begging at his door, scholars in his apartment and a potential million-dollar book deal coming his way. If the play was actually written by the Bard, this is huge, and even the harshest critics are convinced it is the real deal. Everyone believes it…everyone, that is, except Arthur.

Arthur knows something the Shakespeare scholars don’t: his father. His father, a man who had been imprisoned several times for forging art and documents; a man who saw the magic in adding mystery to the world, despite problems of legality; and a man who loved, more than anything in the world, Shakespeare. And now Arthur is seeing characters and memories from his own life in the supposed lost work of Shakespeare, and he’s not quite as convinced of its authenticity as the experts are.

So which is it? The Bard’s lost masterpiece, or a forger’s greatest con? And, perhaps the more important question: if the play is good enough, does it matter? Read the V-Act play included in novel and decide for yourself. You may find yourself thinking Arthur Phillips actually uncovered a lost Shakespeare play himself.