Such Stuff as Dreams by Thomas Garlinghouse

“Imagine a string of pearls. Each pearl is a life, yet yon string connects each pearl. We are, ultimately, that string.”

Therein is just one piece philosophy from William Shakespeare — or, shall we say, the ghost of William Shakespeare, an apparition who plays a key role in the plot and in helping to explain matters of the human soul in Thomas Garlinghouse’s entertaining and inventive novel, Such Stuff As Dreams (Open Books).

But more about that quote in a moment.

Spectres and Screenplays

The story takes place in 1936 Hollywood, with stars like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard shining, and a screenwriter named Joe Holliday trying to make his mark in the ultra-competitive industry. The head of Holliday’s film studio, C.L. Greenwood, is looking to “walk the fine line between highbrow and popular appeal.” As he says it, “I want the public’s money and the critics’ praise.”

To that end, he comes up with the idea to develop a movie script that is a modern-day version of Hamlet. And he wants Joe to write it. Get the picture?

Joe earlier had written an original screenplay with much promise. He also had in him an unfinished novel. But Greenwood rejects the screenplay so that Joe can focus his efforts on the Hamlet project. Joe is set up on the studio lot in a new writers cottage with many comforts and no distractions.

As least that’s what Greenwood thinks.

That’s because Joe carries a secret, one that has been dormant for a long time: He has the ability to communicate with ghosts. This started when he was a child, but his parents did everything that could to convince Joe that the ghosts were lies and he was to erase them from his mind.

So a funny thing happens on the way to writing the modern Hamlet: he keeps coming across a supposedly unfinished manuscript of Shakespeare, a play entitled The Apple Orchid. When the ghost of Shakespeare appears before Joe, the Bard convinces Joe to abandon work on Hamlet — it’s already finished and pretty good, if he does say so himself — and help him complete The Apple Orchid. Joe enthusiastically agrees, trusts in the ghost to protect him and figures he will deal with the wrath of Greenwood when the time comes.

Not Your Typical Ghost Story

The book is an engaging story with a touch of magic, a peek into the Golden Age of Hollywood, a human drama and a heavy dose of listening to Shakespeare in words and deeds — on writing, human nature and the decisions that guide us. In creating Shakespeare as a ghost, Garlinghouse does a wonderful job of having us picture the times he lived in, the realities of his disposition, and how he thought about the world that shaped his craft.

As for those string of pearls, Shakespeare has a lot to say about the spirit and about reincarnation, even suggesting things about Joe’s life and possible past lives that provide worthy food for thought — regarding his career, his writing and his budding love life. And all the while, there’s a lot to consider about chasing dreams and the sacrifices we make to that end.

Such Stuff As Dreams is most certainly a ghost story, but not the kind we traditionally identify with the genre. “My ghost,” says Garlinghouse, “would be a helper and a mentor, an entity with the goal of assisting humans through difficult times or major life changes.” Think The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by Josephine Leslie, or even Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost.

Whatever kind of story it is, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable novel that will keep readers thinking but, better than that, keep readers reading. It forces us to understand our potential, revisit our dreams and wonder whether we can look back and say we were committed to giving them the best chance to happen. 

To quote the real Bard himself, from The Tempest: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”