LoveReading Says
Flipping everything you thought you knew about star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet on its head, and drawing from several Rosalines in Shakespeare’s work, Natasha Solomons’ Fair Rosaline recasts Romeo as a serial predator and groomer of young girls — a trait that’s actually present in the original tragic play. As Solomons points out in her Author Note, “the real tragedy is that none of the adults protects the children,” which is exactly what Juliet and Rosaline were. In contrast, in this exhilarating, subversive novel, Rosaline Capulet fights back, speaks out, protects her younger cousin Juliet and exposes male abuses of women. And all this is exquisitely presented as a lusciously-written literary thriller.
With Rosaline’s family “adrift in misery” following the death of her mother, she discovers she’s to be sent to a nunnery, which leaves her furious: “she did not want to be hidden behind a wall. She wanted the world, all its glories and its sorrows and rottenness. How dare they take it from her?” So, she resolves to “delight in every pleasure possible” until she loses her freedom in twelve days’ time.
As a result, Rosaline attends a ball of “dark delights” that’s being hosted by the rival Montague family: “if the devil himself was playing host, she would attend with ribbons in her hair.” Here she meets and falls in love with Romeo, who offers her passion and marriage as an alternative to the nunnery: “he was the finest man she’d ever seen, and he was kind to her but, most of all, he offered hope.”
Soon enough, though, Romeo’s possessiveness and manipulative nature become apparent, along with revelations from a previous victim, just as he turns his attention to thirteen-year-old Juliet. But Rosaline is prepared to risk everything to protect Juliet, and to honour the women whose lives Romeo ruined.
Reeling with revenge and a glorious sense of sisterhood, Fair Rosaline is un-put-down-able, of the moment, and entertaining with it.
Joanne Owen
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Fair Rosaline Synopsis
'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
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781786582676 |
| Publication date: |
9th May 2024 |
| Author: |
Natasha Solomons |
| Publisher: |
Manilla an imprint of Bonnier Books UK |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
377 pages |
| Primary Genre |
General Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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