Binding her breasts, a young woman, Sander, pretends to be a man and plays female roles for Shakespeare’s theatrical company.

She’d never guess a servant-girl has a crush on her male identity. The risk of being unmasked escalates when Sander has a love affair with dashing young John Donne, a poet and law student.

Disguise, love and William Shakespeare’s plays intertwine in the historical novel, “The Secret Player,” by former City College English professor Jinny Webber. The book, which was published Aug. 6 this year, is the first of Webber’s Shakespearean Trilogy to be released.

“I have to agree with people who think [Shakespeare] is the greatest writer in the sense of covering every human emotion,” Webber said. “… I think Shakespeare just has a fascination. How did he write so many plays, all of them different? How did he know about every profession?”

Webber finished writing the novel in 1998, when the film “Shakespeare In Love” was released.

“I had to put it away and then I came back to it after I thought that movie was old enough,” Webber said.

As she waited, she continued volumes two and three of the trilogy, “Dark Venus” and “Bedtrick.” Now, she is doing final edits on the final two books before their releases on Jan. 16, and June 11, 2013, respectively.

The setting hinges on Shakespeare’s company, named “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” at the time, from the 1590s to 1603. Most characters are historical people, including Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth and Alexander “Sander” Cooke.

Kate Collins, 15, leaves her village and disguises herself as a boy following her grandmother’s death in “The Secret Player.” She comes to London and begins playing women’s parts under the pseudonym Alexander Cooke.

Breathtaking moments transpire when some suspect Sander’s identity as a woman. Those who discover her secret later become her friends, including Shakespeare.

Early in the story, Sander meets handsome poet John Donne and falls in love with him. She inspires his poetry but their relationship does not last.

“Of course she’s not going to give up her acting career for him, so it can’t be a happy ending,” Webber said.

In the novel, John Donne meets Sander in 1592, when his passion for poetry was growing in real life.

Donne got married in 1601.

Alexander Cooke was a historical male actor who actually played women’s roles for Shakespeare’s company.

England was the only country in Europe not allowing women on stage at that time.

“[Actors] could be arrested as vagrants when they were out on the road,” Webber explained, “unless they were travelling under the name of some lord.”

She added Lord North would have to take out a warrant to allow them to travel.

Another reason is preachers protested against theater performances and called female actresses prostitutes or worse, Webber said.

Women did not get to perform on stage until after the restoration of Charles II in 1660.

After all, no boy-girl was ever documented in the English theatrical history.

“The whole experience of reading is a good one because you feel like you’re immersed in the world that she’s created,” said David Starkey, an English professor at City College.

Growing up in Glendale, Webber came to UCSB at 17. She later worked for City College for 33 years, teaching writing courses and literature, including Shakespeare.

“She’s a good friend to people who know her,” Starkey said. “She’s a good listener. I think that’s a quality that not everyone can claim.”

Conducting several Study Abroad Programs for City College, Webber travelled to Cambridge and London, England multiple times. The journey included field trips to Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born. Webber was inspired to start the novel.

“It’s one thing to study in books, but if you go to the country, … you’ll just feel the presence of the culture so differently and the ancient, old, old history of these places,” Webber said.

Webber dedicates “The Secret Player to Jan Rudestam, a licensed psychologist, local writer. They have been writing and discussing their writing together once a week for 14 years.

“What I see [in Webber] is somebody who’s incredibly passionate about a period in history and a place in history that’s so stimulating and interesting,” said Rudestam.

“The Secret Player” is downloadable as an e-book on Amazon for $7.99.