What are the main themes and the plot of The Shakespeare Stealer?

In 's ,
the reader meets the narrator, Widge, who is an orphan born in 1587 during the era of
Queen Elizabeth. Widge is adopted by Dr. Timothy Bright at the age of seven to become an
apprentice. His first job is to care for the potion that is kept over the burning pitch.
However, he is also tasked to learn Latin, English, and Dr. Bright's own language invention
called Charactery,which is "an art of short, swift, and secret writing
by the which one may transcribe the spoken word as rapidly as it issues from the tongue."
This type of shorthand is much like today's stenography.

Widge eventually
discovers...