Historic fiction, ILLYRIA: Betrayal of Angels by Armin Shimerman is the first in a trilogy that blends scrupulous Tudor scholarship with The Bard’s world of Twelfth Night This adventure follows William Shakespeare and Dr. John Dee’s escapades from London to the island of Illyria, rooting out a treasonous plot against Elizabethan rule. Many scholars suggest that Doctor John Dee was the inspiration for Prospero in The Tempest, and possibly the mystical architect of the Globe Theater. The Queen’s conjurer, John Dee was an Elizabethan of many talents: mathematician, lecturer, cryptographer, librarian, philosopher, astrologer, father, and spy.

The tale begins with Dee’s assignment from Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Walsingham, to ascertain the loyalty of a Catholic Count governing an island in the English Channel. England’s Principal Secretary suspects that the island—Illyria—is a secret way-station for the Roman Catholic church to smuggle propaganda and outlawed Jesuit priests into Britain: Sedition to undermine the Protestant Queen’s sovereignty and safety. In the course of John Dee’s preparation to go to Illyria, he becomes acquainted with teen William Shakespeare, or Shakespar, whose first-time play has just flopped: Amleth—the precursor to Hamlet. Novice Shakespar seeks access to the Doctor’s famous library to educate himself in order to compete with established dramatists’ college educated wits. When Dee discovers Will’s photographic memory, the doctor engages Shakespeare as secretary, student, and traveling companion. On a blustery winter’s day, they sail to Illyria to execute Her Majesty’s clandestine mission. On a sailing vessel manned completely by Jews, they reach Illyria populated by Count Orisno, Feste, Malvolio, Antonio, and others who ultimately appear in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Most of Shimerman’s other characters are historic personages [Sir Francis Walsingham, Lord Burghley, Thomas Flaunt, Thomas Phelippes, Capt. Samuel Pallache, Captain Clinton].

Though officially Dr. Dee’s cover on Illyria is as Royal Postmaster, most Illyrians— discrete French Roman Catholics—assume Londoner Dee is a spy. Among them, Count Orsino is newly married to Dian de Guiche, niece of a powerful French papist aristocrat. John Dee must overcome his initial misgivings, make allies, and discover the apostolic secrets of the mysterious island.

And who will give safe harbor to the two English spies? Islanders’ antipathy to non- Catholics result in serious threat to both John Dee and Will Shakespeare. Historic religious hatred is a predominant theme in Shimerman’s novel as is Elizabethan rhethoric, Tudor history, period eccentricities, family life, and homesickness. While Protestant Malvolio makes overtures to the Royal Postmaster, Dee seeks the help of an itinerant musician, Feste, and attempts to bribe Illyria’s harbormaster, Toby Belch, first cousin to Orsino’s Chamberlain. Dee uncovers forbidden documents and talismans using his skills as a mathematician, cryptographer, and mystic, and proves heretical secrets are being protected—but by whom? Will the Doctor survive long enough to understand his historic role in England’s safety?—A role whereby his astrological charts cryptically assure him!

Aside from the dramatis personae of Twelfth Night, all Shimerman’s characters are historical figures. He has endeavored to render historically accurate all timelines, props, and allusions to Shakespeare’s life and written works while imagining creative backstories to all the characters of Twelfth Night. Shimerman’s ILLYRIA trilogy both educates and entertains—“the true function of literature” according to Edmund Spencer.