Shakespeare's Lover — Ryan Field

When an athletic college senior, Jude Carmichael, is asked to write a play for St. Dymphna College for Men, he takes on the job with enthusiasm. It's l969 and the world is changing, so Jude decides to write a play about William Shakespeare's fictional love life and how it might have affected Shakespeare while he was writing Romeo and Juliet. However, as the months pass and his deadline approaches, Jude is stuck and can't figure out a suitable ending…until he meets the best muse he's ever known, an adorable little guy with big brown eyes named Declan Lucas.

Declan is an innocent young freshman at Southern Memorial College for Men, St. Dymphna's arch rival. Declan's abusive father is the president of Southern Memorial and he expects Declan to follow in his footsteps. But the only thing Declan has ever wanted to do in life is act on the stage. And when his father refuses to allow him to be in his own school play that year because acting is socially inferior, Declan decides to secretly audition for a part in St. Dymphna's play instead. This is against the rules; Southern Memorial students aren't allowed to be in St. Dymphna plays. But he does it anyway. With the help of a good friend, Declan dresses up as an attractive young woman and winds up getting the female lead in St. Dymphna's play, Shakespeare's Lover.

Though everyone at St. Dymphna is fooled by Declan's disguise, and they are thrilled to have found the perfect young woman for the part, it doesn't take long for Jude Carmichael to figure out Declan is really the most wonderful young man he's ever met. And when he does, he's not shy about letting Declan know how he feels.

While they put together one of the most romantic plays ever produced by St. Dymphna College, and everyone thinks Declan is really a woman named Gill, Jude and Declan fall more deeply in love as the weeks pass. Though they can't be seen together in public unless Declan is dressed as a woman, they find creative ways to meet in private so Declan can be a man. With each obstacle these two men face, from an over-bearing father to social conditions of their times, the love they feel for each other is always stronger. And though there are moments when it doesn't look as if they'll ever be able to share a future together, let alone put on a play, there's a wonderful ending in store for them that makes all the sneaking around worthwhile.