conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a story titled Kissing Shakespeare about Miranda, Shakespeare, England with the genre: Teen & Young Adult, Literature & Fiction.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Its a far-fetched premise even for the most seasoned time traveler: sixteen-year-old Miranda is spirited back to Elizabethan England by fellow actor Stephen Langford to rescue William Shakespeare from joining the priesthood. If they are successful, the world will know the sonnets and plays of the Bard; if not, Miranda will return to a very different modern-day Boston. The plan? Miranda, acting as Stephens sister, Olivia, will seduce a teenage William Shakespeare, thus convincing him that he is unfit for the priesthood. Debut author the author makes good use of Shakespeares lost years as she weaves an improbable but no less fascinating story of a contemporary young woman coping with the harsh yet courtly conditions of rural sixteenth-century England. Olivia, Stephen, and Shakespeare all play a rather predictable romantic cat-and-mouse game, but theres just enough violence, intrigue, and suspense to keep readers on their toes. Although she takes certain liberties with Olivias involvement in Shakespeares writing process, the author remains true to the history and events of the era, thus revealing the challenge of living in a time of religious persecution and suppression of women. Grades 7-12. --Frances Bradburn
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: If they are successful, the world will know the sonnets and plays of the Bard; if not, Miranda will return to a very different modern-day Boston. The plan? Miranda, acting as Stephens sister, Olivia, will seduce a teenage William Shakespeare, thus convincing him that he is unfit for the priesthood. Debut author the author makes good use of Shakespeares lost years as she weaves an improbable but no less fascinating story of a contemporary young woman coping with the harsh yet courtly conditions of rural sixteenth-century England. Olivia, Stephen, and Shakespeare all play a rather predictable romantic cat-and-mouse game, but theres just enough violence, intrigue, and suspense to keep readers on their toes. Although she takes certain liberties with Olivias involvement in Shakespeares writing process, the author remains true to the history and events of the era, thus revealing the challenge of living in a time of religious persecution and suppression of women. Grades 7-12. --Frances Bradburn
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first five paragraphs for this story.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Kissing Shakespeare
  I grabbed my cloak and tugged on the gloves Will had given me. It had rained earlier, and both landscape and buildings were shrouded in mist. The moist grass dampened my slippers and wet the hems of my skirts. While I waited for Stephen in the garden, I tried to identify the birdsongs. My grandmother always said robins sang the day to sleep, but I didn't know if that was true in the here-and-now. The then-and-now. Whatever.
  I wrapped my cloak closer around myself. "Only that she intends to leave the day before the Corpus Christi pageant. Her father wouldn't approve. I tried to talk her into staying."
  Stephen nodded. "It is beyond belief that Edmund Campion has been in our midst all this time and I've been completely unaware. There were signs. I should have guessed."
  Frowning, he said, "We wouldn't keep him locked up for long. Just enough time so that it would be impossible for Will to catch up with Thomas. Then we'd release him. 'Tis not as if he would be our prisoner."
  I lowered my voice. "I think we should talk to your uncle. If we explain the situation to him, maybe he won't allow Will to escort Thomas, and then we wouldn't have to deal with it."
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me five more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: I felt that knot in my stomach again. Just thinking about tomorrow and what could happen seemed to bring it on.
  I awoke with the dawn chorus, well before the sun was up. I lay quietly and tried to clear my mind, to listen to the sweet peacefulness of the almost morning. Servants in the passage called to each other as they began their daily routines, and a few voices softly hummed or whistled. Stretching, I swept my eyes around the room, taking in the furniture, the tapestries, and the fireplace. I wanted to remember everything, to be able to picture it when I was back in Boston. I had the feeling I'd be going home soon.
  I must have dozed, because I was still in bed when Bess breezed in with a tray bearing a ewer of warm water and breakfast. "Good morrow, mistress," she said, curtsying.
  When she left, I rinsed my face and ran my fingers through my tangled hair. Then I walked over to the table by the settle, where Bess had placed my usual bowl of pottage and tankard of ale. There was also a small basket of strawberries, sweet and juicy, an unexpected treat. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat much. After a few desultory bites, there was a tap at my door. Perhaps someone bringing the water.
  But it was Stephen, dressed and looking fresh and handsome. "Kind of early for a visit, isn't it?" I asked, feeling shy about being in my sleeping smock.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Just thinking about tomorrow and what could happen seemed to bring it on.
  I awoke with the dawn chorus, well before the sun was up. I lay quietly and tried to clear my mind, to listen to the sweet peacefulness of the almost morning. Servants in the passage called to each other as they began their daily routines, and a few voices softly hummed or whistled. Stretching, I swept my eyes around the room, taking in the furniture, the tapestries, and the fireplace. I wanted to remember everything, to be able to picture it when I was back in Boston. I had the feeling I'd be going home soon.
  I must have dozed, because I was still in bed when Bess breezed in with a tray bearing a ewer of warm water and breakfast. "Good morrow, mistress," she said, curtsying.
  When she left, I rinsed my face and ran my fingers through my tangled hair. Then I walked over to the table by the settle, where Bess had placed my usual bowl of pottage and tankard of ale. There was also a small basket of strawberries, sweet and juicy, an unexpected treat. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat much. After a few desultory bites, there was a tap at my door. Perhaps someone bringing the water.
  But it was Stephen, dressed and looking fresh and handsome. "Kind of early for a visit, isn't it?" I asked, feeling shy about being in my sleeping smock.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last two paragraphs.. End with the sentence ' In 1613, he retired to Stratford and died there in 1616, at the age of fifty-two.'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Alexander Hoghton died in August of 1581, around the time of Campion's arrest. His heirs continue to reside at Hoghton Tower, an Elizabethan manor house open to the public. It is near the city of Preston.
  And the young Will Shakespeare? By the age of eighteen, he was living in Stratford, his birthplace, and married to Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Eventually he made his way to London, where he was an actor in the theater companies for which he wrote his plays. In 1613, he retired to Stratford and died there in 1616, at the age of fifty-two.