Examines representations of Anne Hathaway from the eighteenth century to contemporary portrayals in theatre, biographies and novels.

Katherine West Scheil is Professor of English at the University of Minnesota. Her previous works have focused on the reception history of Shakespeare, and include The Taste of the Town: Shakespearian Comedy and the Early Eighteenth-Century Theater (2003), Shakespeare, Adaptation, Modern Drama, co-edited with Randall Martin (2011) and She Hath Been Reading: Women and Shakespeare Clubs in America (2012).

Preface; 1. Origins; 2. Forging the Shakespeare marriage: Anne Hathaway in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; 3. The legacy of Anne Hathaway's cottage; Interlude: fact and fiction; 4. 'Fit to marry': early imaginary Annes; 5. Post-war imaginary Annes; 6. Anne Hathaway for a female audience; Conclusion.