Fair Rosaline
THE DARK, CAPTIVATING AND SUBVERSIVE UNTELLING OF SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET
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1.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
'IRRESISTIBLE' JENNIFER SAINT
'SPELLBINDING' ELODIE HARPER
'BEGUILING' WILLIAM BOYD
'GRIPPING' ISABELLE SCHULER
THE UNMISSABLE UNTELLING OF ROMEO AND JULIET, NARRATED BY ROSALINE, THE WOMAN ROMEO 'LOVED' FIRST.
Fierce, feminist and intensely gripping - FAIR ROSALINE takes everything you think you know about Romeo & Juliet and turns it on its head . . .
The first time Romeo Montague sees young Rosaline Capulet he falls instantly in love. Rosaline, headstrong and independent, is unsure of Romeo's attentions but with her father determined that she join a convent, this handsome and charming stranger offers her the chance of a different life.
Soon though, Rosaline begins to doubt all that Romeo has told her. She breaks off the match, only for Romeo's gaze to turn towards her cousin, thirteen-year-old Juliet. Gradually Rosaline realises that it is not only Juliet's reputation at stake, but her life.
With only hours remaining before she will be banished behind the nunnery walls, will Rosaline save Juliet from her Romeo? Or can this story only ever end one way?
A subversive, powerful untelling of Shakespeare's best-known tale, narrated by a fierce, forgotten voice: this is Rosaline's story.
'An excellent spin on a timeless classic'
Jennifer Saint
'I have not been able to stop thinking about this book . . . Fair Rosaline is a gripping, spellbinding and wonderfully immersive'
Elodie Harper
'Brilliant and beguiling . . . A terrific novel - very clever and alluring'
William Boyd
'Thought-provoking . . . a rich and atmospheric'
Katherine J. Chen, author of Joan
'A gripping story of female agency and strength. Rosaline is a compelling heroine and I was rooting for her from the first page'
Isabelle Schuler, author of Lady Macbethad
'Intelligent, imaginative, irreverent. A gripping Romeo and Juliet for the 21st century'
Annabel Abbs
'A brilliant, feminist re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet. I absolutely devoured this'
Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of Beautiful Little Fools
'Exquisitely written, wonderfully lyrical and richly immersive - this a story we all know made fresh and chillingly relevant'
Ellery Lloyd
'A deliciously dark take on the iconic love story'
Woman & Home
'A dark, powerful and thought-provoking novel'
Culture Fly
SELECTED AS ONE TO WATCH IN 2023 IN THE EVENING STANDARD
EDITOR'S CHOICE IN THE BOOKSELLER
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS FOR AUGUST IN THE I NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Solomons (I, Mona Lisa) gives voice to Rosaline Capulet, Juliet's cousin and Romeo's forgotten lover, in this feminist spin on Shakespeare's tragedy. Rosaline, only 15 when she loses her mother to pestilence, faces a future in a nunnery to escape the "ruinous expense of a dowry." As a final act of defiance, Rosaline decides to attend the Montagues' masque disguised as her brother Valentio, where she meets Romeo, who sees through her disguise and swears he is "disarmed" by her. Romeo's flattery is appealing to Rosaline, who feels like an outcast among the Capulets and has been told her "dark beauty" is not fashionable, and she's quickly swept into an intense but short-lived love affair, ending when Romeo meets Juliet. Rosaline's eyes are opened to Romeo's true nature, and she vows to save her cousin from a dark fate. Solomons challenges classic interpretations of Romeo and Juliet, painting Romeo as a predator who lures unwitting young girls and discards them, with the help of a friar, though the modern language and themes clumsily alternate with more Elizabethan language, and Rosaline's master plan seems to fall into place too conveniently. Still, this is entertaining and empowering.
