Virginia Fellows, unfortunately died before her new book The Shakespeare Code was published. Fellows was one of a growing number of researchers who are convinced William Shakespeare was a sham, and the actual author of the great plays was Sir Francis Bacon. Bacon is also widely acknowledged as the illegitimate child of Queen Elizabeth I.

Furthermore, Ms. Fellows informs us that the plays and sonnets, while being great works of literature, also contain hidden messages in a coded form. She makes a convincing argument that by using the Bi-literal or Trithemius cipher systems, the reader can find a new and completely different story hidden within the text.

William Shakespeare is world-famous, though he is an author that you either love or hate. This is the author who generations of school children have grown up to dislike. Written nearly 400 years ago, the stories do not usually appeal to the younger generations. I, for one, remember being forced to read and dissect some of the plays in grammar school. I share in their pain!

The first printed efforts of William Shakespeare were released in 1623, and is widely known as the Shakespeare Folio, containing within it a mere 36 plays and other works.
According to Ms. Fellows the real story contained within the Folio is actually more of a diary concerning the life and times of Francis Bacon, his contemporaries, and comments about life in the Elizabethan age.

Using the strange use of fonts, italics and capitalization as keys to the code, the Shakespeare Folio reveals a completely different tale. According to the deciphered material in The Shakespeare Code, Queen Elizabeth had two illegitimate children, Francis Bacon, and Robert, who later became the Earl of Essex. Many historians acknowledge Francis Bacon as being the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth, but few acknowledge there may have been a second child. At the Queen's behest, the latter met an untimely end from the executioners axe in the Tower of London.

Although brought up in different family environments, Francis and Robert do join forces during their early adulthood, each trying to help the other in their quest for fame, and subsequent fortune. As for Queen Elizabeth, she is portrayed as a very strong-willed woman who would go to almost any lengths to ensure the security of her position. While Francis and Robert were widely accepted as her progeny within court circles, at no point did the Queen publicly admit it.