2025 summer reading guide

Summer’s a great time for reading, whether it’s at the beach or in your backyard. We’re sharing a list of fiction and non-fiction books exploring Shakespeare and his world from Folger blogs, podcast interviews, and our book club. What will you add to your summer TBR list?

Privates Rites by Julia Armfield

How does Shakespeare’s King Lear resonate in a world facing climate catastrophe? Set in a near-future London reshaped by rising sea levels, three sisters grapple with their father’s death.  Inheritance, power, and old family wounds echo Shakespeare’s tragic monarch in Armfield’s novel which add a distinctly modern, queer perspective.

Listen to our interview with the author

The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens by Nicola Clark

Who were the ladies-in-waiting to Henry VIII’s six wives? What were their lives like? These overlooked but influential figures served in the royal court during a transformative period of English history. As Henry changed wives, these women had to make choices about loyalty that never existed before. Finally, their story is told.

Read an excerpt

Humans: A Monstrous History by Surekha Davies

What do monsters tell us about how people understand the world—and each other? Historian of science Surekha Davies, a past Folger Fellow, has written a history of the world told through the lens of monsters—those who defy the categories humans construct to order society. For Davies, monsters are full of revolutionary potential.

Read an excerpt  |  Listen to our interview with the author

Romeo vs Juliet: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure by Anthony Del Col, writer, and Stefan Tosheff, artist

The world’s most famous lovers are now sworn enemies in this Shakespeare Western. Juliet Capulet is defending a small-town nunnery from invading forces led by her ex, Romeo Montague. She must reunite with her old allies, including Hamlet, Othello, and Puck—a “Magnificent Shakespeare Seven”—to defeat him in this inventive graphic novel. From the Kill Shakespeare adventure series.

Read our blog post

Boy by Nicole Galland

Nicole Galland’s new novel imagines Shakespeare’s boy actor Alexander “Sander” Cooke at the height of his teenage fame as an androgynous beauty known for playing Rosalind in As You Like It. His best friend Joan, in disguise of course, is being mentored by Francis Bacon in natural philosophy. Their Shakespearean cross-dressing adventures, fraught with comedy and danger, feel surprisingly contemporary.

Read our blog post

The Pretender by Jo Harkin

Who was Lambert Simnel—the boy who nearly claimed the Tudor throne? Jo Harkin tells the story of the so-called Yorkist “pretender” who nearly toppled Henry VII. She imagines Simnel’s life beyond the history books, from his childhood on a farm to his years at court, showing how historical fiction can fill in the gaps of the past and reminding us that what endures isn’t always what’s real, but what people are ready to believe.

Listen to our interview with the author

Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots by Jade Scott

Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner for almost two decades before her execution in 1587, writing countless letters, many encrypted. 400 years later, 57 of these letters were unearthed in a French archive and decoded, the most important new find on Mary for more than a century. Historian Jade Scott draws on hundreds of these encrypted letters to paint a vivid portrait of one of history’s most compelling figures.

Read an excerpt

The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter by Grace Tiffany

Who was Shakespeare’s daughter Judith? First imagined as a young woman in Tiffany’s My Father Had a Daughter, now she’s back as a midwife-apothecary at age 61. Accused of witchcraft, she’s forced to flee Stratford and navigate a world where the Puritans have closed the playhouses, civil war splits England, and even her father’s legacy is at risk.

Read an excerpt  |  Listen to our interview with the author

The Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare edited by Peggy O’Brien

The new Folger Guide to Teaching Shakespeare series offers educators (and anyone taking a second look at the plays) fresh insights and detailed lesson plans for some of Shakespeare’s most frequently taught plays—Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet—using the proven Folger Method of teaching and informed by the experiences of classroom teachers.

Learn more about the Folger Guides

Recommendations from the Folger Book Club

See what our virtual book club has been reading. It’s a wide-ranging list, with titles inspired by Shakespeare and his early modern world, our collection, performances, and programs.

Explore four seasons of Folger Book Club picks

Many of these titles—and more!—available through the Folger Shop