Plays are a medium that inherently welcome new interpretations, after all, each new production comes with the questions what if, why, and how? These authors wonder the same thing and have penned some intriguing tomes that won’t just have you reminiscing about Shakespeare, but have you rethinking his work entirely.
A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd
Rosaline Montague, the eldest daughter of the legendary Romeo and Juliet (alive and kicking in this reimagining), navigates the complexities of life in fair Verona with a fiercely independent spirit. Growing up in the shadow of one of the great love storie,s Rosaline has never been eager to wed, so when her latest parentally selected suitor, Duke Stephano, winds up murdered at their betrothal ball she isn’t terribly upset. But she can’t allow a killer to walk free…
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Does life imitate art on this immersive dark academia tale? Oliver Marks has just completed a ten-year prison sentence, a detective on the old case worries he still doesn’t have the full story. A decade earlier, Oliver was part of an elite group of seven actors at a prestigious arts college, where life mirrored their Shakespearean roles of hero, villain, and temptress. When a sudden shift in their onstage casting lead to deadly real-life consequences, the group tried to navigate the treacherous overlap of art and reality, all while maintaining a façade of innocence.
The Girl on the Balcony by Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey takes readers on an intimate journey through her life, from her rise as a celebrated actress in the 1960s to her enduring friendships, tumultuous marriages, motherhood, and her battle with stage-four breast cancer. She opens up about her struggles with agoraphobia and bankruptcy, and her eventual path to self-discovery in India. This memoir offers an inside look at her astonishing career and life with particular attention paid to her iconic performance as Juliet in Franco Zefirrelli’s 1968 adaptation of “Romeo & Juliet” and her reflections on that experience all these years later.
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Plunge into the roaring chaos of 1926 Shanghai, where a bloody feud between two rival gangs—Juliette Cai’s Scarlet Gang and Roma Montagov’s White Flowers—dominates the city’s underworld. When a mysterious contagion causes gangsters on both sides to claw their own throats out, Juliette and Roma must set aside their animosity and join forces. With the city teetering on the brink of madness, they must confront an unknown monster lurking in the shadows, for failure means losing Shanghai to chaos forever in this thrilling reimagining of Romeo and Juliet.
Reprinted with permission from Kensington Books.
