Lightborne

From its opening scene onwards, debut author Phillips’s fictional portrait of dramatist and spy Christopher “Kit” Marlowe pulses with energy. Harnessing the Elizabethan’s passions and accomplishments, and the enduring mystery of his violent death, the novel weaves a story of love and betrayal, powerfully evoking the peril that came with being both queer and free-thinking. London, meanwhile, is a multisensory backdrop whose theatres and inns teem with threats as well as thrills. Vivid and volatile, it’s historical fiction in which nothing feels foretold and everything is to play for.

"In Lightborne, which explores the mysterious last days of Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe, Hesse Phillips plunges us into a dark world of intrigue and betrayal—but one also punctuated by glimmers of poetry, lust, and love. Phillips’ novel is a masterpiece of heart-stopping suspense—a truly amazing debut." 

"Lightborne is dark and propulsive, simmering with violence, desire and intrigue. Rigorously researched but as gripping as a thriller, it makes a sometimes familiar period feel fresh and alive. It’s a sensationally good read and a vital queering of the Elizabethan narrative––I adored it."

"Life and death stakes are introduced from the very first line of Lightborne, an Elizabethan-era page-turner that vividly portrays the final weeks of Christopher Marlowe’s life. The considerable research that went into this novel is remarkable, but it’s the author’s singular ability to fully inhabit Marlowe and the treacherous company he kept that makes the book such a compelling read. Lightborne offers a vibrant, urgent, harrowing account of the playwright’s life and death, and marks the impressive debut of a gifted new writer."

“Hesse Phillips’ dazzling Lightborne returns us to a world of more moral certainty but considerably more physical danger, telling the story of Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe, the Elizabethan dramatist and spy, with a thrillingly intense sense of period. As a gay man, Kit is especially vulnerable to blackmail, tangling with malevolent agents of the state while attempting to write his masterpieces. The novel is a hugely impressive, visceral and moving portrait of one of the era’s most captivating and mysterious characters.”

“In lush, galloping, impeccable prose, Phillip’s Lightbornenot only immerses us in Marlowe’s world as zestfully as a summer bath, it has made of Marlowe—long-dead and godlike figure as he is—a character we instantly feel kinship with, whose passions and fears are at their most human and very like our own. Phillip’s Marlowe not only rescues the man from history’s prejudices, we feel propelled to throw ourselves inside his world and revisit his life and work again and again.”

“Full of intrigue, intensely atmospheric, and exquisitely dark, Lightborne takes readers on the breathless lead-up to Kit Marlowe’s notoriously mysterious death, offering a richly drawn, superbly researched dive into the conspiratorial shadows of Tudor England, replete with sharp insights into its theatre scene, queer subcultures, and ruthless inquisitions.”

"Other works of fiction have been written about the turbulent life and still not fully explained death of the Elizabethan dramatist Christopher Marlowe. None has demonstrated the erudition and intensity of Hesse Phillips’s debut novel. Phillips’s Marlowe is a haunted, driven man, more involved in the dangerous world of espionage than the theatre. Told in vivid, punchy prose, LIGHTBORNE is a brilliantly original take on a familiar story."

"Set against a backdrop of plague fires and palace intrigue, this stunning debut speculates on the last days of Elizabethan poet Christopher Marlowe. Phillips' curiosity about this enduring historical mystery is the readers' reward. With deft storytelling and exquisite prose, Phillips offers an absorbing and devastating tale of men living passionately in a perilous age." 

"A thoroughly contemporary take. Phillips links not only Marlowe’s killing, but also the great conspiracy of his time, the Jesuit 'Babington Plot' against Elizabeth I, to betrayed homosexual love. A fast-paced narrative chain of theatrical scenes breathes new life into familiar images of the period."

"Brings Tudor England––and a marvelously realized Christopher Marlowe––to brilliant life. This is historical fiction at its glittering and transgressive best."

"Absolutely fantastic. A deeply impressive achievement, meticulously researched and fabulously rendered. Genuinely reminiscent of the likes Hilary Mantel or Ken Follett."

Praise for Lightborne:

"A wonderfully vivid and edgy piece of storytelling, the kind of brilliant writing that rescues historical fiction from the museum.”

"A deliciously complex, vivid portrait of a violent and fascinating period, with an addictively charismatic cast of characters. Heart-wrenching, bold and earthy, this book gripped me and wouldn't let me go."