THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602200106
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
``Let us imagine . . . what would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say . . . as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was.''
- Virginia Woolf,
``A Room of One's Own''
That's exactly what Doris Gwaltney did when she wrote ``Shakespeare's Sister.''
The Smithfield writer and Shakespeare lover reached into her favorite writer's genealogy and created Judith, an adventurous woman who rebels against the rigid Elizabethan times.
Unlike most women of that era, Judith learns to read and write, from big brother William. In ``Shakespeare's Sister,'' readers will see a humorous, passionate Judith defy tradition and run away to London to make her dreams of acting come true.
``Shakespeare's Sister,'' released Dec. 1 and costing $11.95, is experiencing its own success, Gwaltney says, though she's not sure how many copies have been sold.
``The response has been fantastic. I have just grinned and laughed since December.''
Over the last two months, Gwaltney has had numerous readings and book-signings at several bookstores, museums and art galleries across Hampton Roads. Her next one is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at J.M. Prince Books and Coffehouse in downtown Norfolk.
Locally, the book is for sale at the Isle of Wight Tourism Bureau, the Isle of Wight Museum and The Collage gallery. It is also available at several area bookstores, including Waldenbooks at Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News and Blue Skies Gallery in Hampton. Any bookstore can order it through Hampton Roads Publishing Co. Inc.
``I think it's my best book,'' Gwaltney says. ``People who read the manuscript,'' including other authors, ``told me it was my best work and that I had to do something to get it published.''
She says her agent, Ray Lincoln of Philadelphia, spent two years trying to sell the manuscript to major publishing houses.
``People liked it but didn't feel it was marketable,'' Gwaltney says.
So she formed her own company, Cypress Creek Press, to publish the book with her own funds. She retained Hampton Roads Publishing, a former Norfolk firm that moved to Charlottesville last year, to distribute it nationwide.
``Shakespeare's Sister'' is Gwaltney's first published book. She has written six other manuscripts and is in the middle of her eighth, about an indentured servant set in 1763 Smithfield.
Gwaltney retired last year from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, where she was coordinator of the school's annual writing conference. by CNB