Widow's Global Quest: Seeking Shakespeare's First Folios

Greg Doran, former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has undertaken an extraordinary global pilgrimage following the death of his husband, Antony Sher. The book intertwines Sher's candid "Dying Diaries" from his final six months battling liver cancer with Doran's own quest to locate over 200 existing copies of Shakespeare's First Folio. These diaries reveal Sher's characteristic resilience, wit, and unwavering love, even as he confronted his mortality.

Doran's journey, initiated around the 2023 quatercentenary of the First Folio's publication, began in Britain and extended across North America, Japan, South Africa, and Australia. This "Folio Roadshow" is described by Doran himself as a "massive piece of displacement activity," a way to cope with grief and find a new purpose. He engages with the rich history of each Folio, encountering eccentric collectors and even forgers.