Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) to liberate England from Spanish dominion. A similarly loveless relationship is depicted in the film "A Waste of Shame" (2005). "The Secret Confessions of Anne Shakespeare" (2010), a novel by Arliss Ryan, also proposes Anne Hathaway as the true author of many of the Shakespeare plays (a claim originally made in 1938). In the novel, Anne follows Will to London to support his acting career. As he finds his true calling in writing, Anne's own literary skills flower, leading to a secret collaboration that makes William Shakespeare the foremost playwright in Elizabethan England. She is portrayed by Liza Tarbuck in
Joan Shakespeare Joan Shakespeare Joan Shakespeare (baptised 15 April 1569 – buried 4 November 1646) was the sister of William Shakespeare. She is the only member of the family whose known descendants continue down to the present day. Joan was Shakespeare's younger sister. She married a hatter named William Hart with whom she had four children, William (1600–1639), Mary (1603–1606), Thomas (1605–1661), and Michael (1608–1618). Little is known about Joan's husband, William, apart from the fact that he was sued for debt in 1600 and 1601. He died in April 1616, and was buried 17 April, a week before William Shakespeare died.