The Writers of Wales Database

SHAKESPEARE, L.M.

Marguerite Shakespeare was born in Wales (her maiden name is Thomas). She was the daughter of a doctor who looked after the medical needs, including surgery, of the people of Cwmaman and the surrounding district. A love for this vibrant and distinctive community was welded to her soul in early years. Her Welsh–speaking father did not teach Welsh to his children, and so despite picking up a little Welsh, she missed the opportunity to be thoroughly bilingual.

Educated at English schools, Marguerite graduated in English Literature from Newnham College, Cambridge. Her new husband, Mr Shakespeare, then joined the diplomatic corps of the Foreign Office, being sent first to Holland and then to Basra. Marguerite went with him and their small daughter, but found marriage a frightful shock after the free life of adolescent education and left after one fascinating year in Iraq. In order to support herself and her daughter, she learnt how to design and market clothes, studying at the Cardiff College of Art for four terms and then launching onto the London market with the Margot Shakespeare label. She had enough success to live in a small flat in Kensington and raise her daughter. During this time she contributed short stories and articles to various magazines and newspapers, but it wasn’t until she married David Evers in 1978 that she had the freedom to write a full length book.

Two financial thrillers (Utmost Faith and The Gentleman’s Mafia) were then published by MacDonald (in hardback), Fontana (in paperback), St. Martin’s Press (in the USA), Knaur (in Germany) and were also released in Japan. Reviewers said that she did for Lloyd’s market what Dick Francis did for the turf. A third novel, Poisoning Angels, was published in New York only. Malice (Stacey International, 2006) is a departure from the former theme and marks a distinct move towards a more literary treatment of a subject, which derives from the fascinating source material of the letters of Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatine in 17th Century France, and the dangerous plots and counterplots of court life. Marguerite is a Member of Academi.

Selected Publications:
Utmost Good Faith (MacDonald, 1987)
Gentlemen’s Mafia (MacDonald, 1989)
A Question of Risk (St. Martin’s Press, 1990)
Poisoning Angels (St. Martin’s Press, 1993)
Malice (Stacey International, 2006)