Duckworth are proud to present this first modern edition of The Tragedy of Arthur by William Shakespeare. The long-lost play surfaces in Phillips's new novel, a sublime faux memoir framed as the introduction to the play's first printing. Arthur and his twin sister, Dana, maintained an unusual relationship with their gregarious father, a forger whose passion for the bard and for creating magic in the everyday (he takes his children to make crop circles one night) leave lasting impressions on them both: Dana becomes a stage actress and amateur Shakespeare expert; Arthur a writer who 'never much liked Shakespeare.' Their father spends most of their lives in prison, but when he's about to be released as a frail old man, he enlists Arthur in securing the publication of The Tragedy of Arthur from an original quarto he claims to have purloined from a an estate decades earlier, though, as the authentication process wears on - successfully -- Arthur becomes convinced that the play is his father's greatest scam...Along the way, Arthur revisits his career and excruciatingly unpacks his relationship with Dana and his own romantic failings. Then there is the play itself, which reads very like something written by the man from Stratford-upon-Avon - a feat of real-life forgery brilliantly carried off. Hilarious and haunting, this virtuosic novel - which includes Shakespeare's(?) lost King Arthur play in its five-act entirety - captures the very essence of romantic and familial love and betrayal.

亚瑟•菲利普斯（1969 — ）,美国畅销作家,剧作家。哈佛大学历史学士。被誉为“这个十年里出现的最棒的美国小说家”。

他的第一本小说《布拉格》（Prague,2002）被提名为“《纽约时报》年度值得关注作品”,并获得2003年度洛杉矶时报首部小说作家奖（Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award）,被提名2004年都柏林国际文学奖,又被美国大众文化杂志（Paste Magazine）评选为“2000-2009年十大最佳首部小说”。

他的第二本小说《埃及学家》(Egyptologist,2004)出版后立刻成为国际畅销书,跻身当年一系列的“最佳”名单,并被斯蒂芬•金称赞为“一部悲剧性的、具有黑色幽默的杰出作品……一种诡异的、暗潮汹涌的恐怖气氛。你从没读过一本像它一样的小说。”

《安吉里卡》（Angelica,2007）被《华盛顿时报》评为2007年最佳小说,并撰文称他为“最好的美国作家之一”,正由米切尔•利希藤斯坦拍摄电影版本。之后《歌是你》（The Song is you,2009）同样被评为“《纽约时报》年度值得关注作品”,也上了《邮报》的2009年度最佳榜单,正由比尔•康顿拍摄一部音乐电影。

他的最新小说《亚瑟的悲剧》（The Tragedy of Arhtur,2011）入选2013年度都柏林国际文学奖短名单,并被众多媒体列为“年度最佳”。菲利普斯创作了一部五幕的莎士比亚剧,被诸多国外知名莎剧评论家推荐为“一部没有明显用字错误的精彩伪作。” 其中的剧本部分已被改编为同名戏剧,《亚瑟王的悲剧》, 2013年在百老汇上演,广受好评。