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A Novel
by Natasha Solomons
Book Reviewed by:The most exciting historical retelling of 2023: a subversive, powerful untelling of Romeo and Juliet by New York Times bestselling author Natasha Solomons.
Was the greatest ever love story a lie?
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 realizes 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?
Shattering everything we thought we knew about Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline is the spellbinding prequel to Shakespeare's best known tale, which exposes Romeo as a predator with a long history of pursuing much younger girls. Bold, lyrical, and chillingly relevant, Fair Rosaline reveals the dark subtext of the timeless story of star-crossed lovers: it's a feminist revision that will enthrall readers of bestselling literary retellings such as Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell and Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese.
I recommend Fair Rosaline to readers who've enjoyed books like Circe and Ariadne – novels that give voice to women who, until now, have been silenced. Its beautiful prose and outstanding historical detail should make it popular with those who appreciate well-written historical fiction, and its feminist themes make it a good choice for book discussions...continued
Full Review
(588 words)
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
In Natasha Solomons' novel Fair Rosaline, the eponymous heroine is destined for life in a convent – specifically Sant'Orsola in Mantua, Italy. Margherita Gonzaga d'Este, a wealthy widow, commissioned the convent in the early 17th century, sparing no expense; she hired architect and artist Antonio Maria Viani to design the building, and commissioned artwork for it from the best regional artists of the day. When completed in 1612, it was comprised of a square of fifty rooms framing a large courtyard, with an octagonal church anchoring it at one corner; the complex spanned a full city block.
The convent was one of many across Europe built for the Poor Clares, an order of Franciscan nuns formed in 1212 by St. Clare of Assisi under the ...
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Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf Den
I have not been able to stop thinking about this book ... Fair Rosaline is a gripping, spellbinding and wonderfully immersive book - and one that truly makes you think. I would be very surprised if everyone is not talking about it.
