Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195969 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Synopsis
She is young, beautiful, and desperately in love with a man who cannot return her affections without arousing suspicion. And so they meet in secret embracing in stairwells and castle turrets, murmuring each other's names in hushed voices, reaching passionately for each other under the cover of darkness. His name is Hamlet; her name is Ophelia. And if you think you know their story, think again. Because when bloody deeds turn the court of Elsinore into a place of treachery and madness, the young lovers will devise a plan for revenge and for escape. Part of their plan calls for Ophelia to cast herself into dark waters. But instead of drowning, she will flee with nothing more than the clothes on her back and one very dangerous secret. What if Ophelia, the tragic young waif of Shakespeare's Hamlet, didn't die? Using this tantalizing premise as her leaping off point, Lisa Klein's gorgeous reimagining of the bard's great tragedy places the ephemeral Ophelia at its centerpiece. At once revisionist and true to its origins, her story offers readers a spellbinding page-turner with twists so startling it will leave them wanting more long after the final, heart-rending page is reached.

Customer Reviews

Ophelia
I loved this book. I have only just got back into reading and I've also never read a romance book before. I loved this book, I would take it everywhere and my friends had to pry it out of my hands if they wanted me for something. You don't need to know the story of Hamlet to understand this book Miss. Klein does a wonderful job of explaining everything and even though there is a great time difference between the two versions she writes about that time period perfectly. I was sorry when I finally finshed it and i can't wait to read all of her other works. I hope they are just as good. You must read this book.

A beautiful book touching on love, obsession, murder and madness
This is a beautiful re-telling of Shakespeare's Hamlet, through the eyes of Ophelia, the girl who resorted to drowning herself upon his rejection. As another reviewer says, in the play, Ophelia is a young woman who is very much a pawn to others, here Klein writes a version of the famous play in which Ophelia is quite different. Without giving anything away, in this book, Ophelia is vivacious and very intelligent, almost shrewd. Rather than committing suicide when Hamlet publically rejects her, Klein offers an alternative interpretation.

What I loved about this book is that, depsite the hundreds of years that seperate Shakespeare and Klein, Klein has been able to create the feeling of that time perfectly. The imagery she uses, and the language of her characters are spot on. It is like reading Shakespeare, but not in iambic pentameter.
The characters are very well developed also. They were all believeable, making you truly care about them. The story of Ophelia and her love for Hamlet completely caught me up - I wanted to read on to see what was going to become of her.
What I also loved about the book is that you do not need to know the story of Hamlet in order to read and enjoy this work. The last time I read Hamlet was while I was studying it for A-Level English Literature, nearly 10 years ago. Reading Klein's book, it made memories of the original come back to me, but even if I had not read it as a main text at school, I would have been able to follow Klein's story.

I think one of the biggest achievements she has made with this book is how she has managed to examine the concept of madness - a key idea within the original play. As you watch Hamlet descend into madness after the death of his father, Ophelia struggles to comprehend if he really is mad or whether he is just putting on a scene for others. Then, as this novel progresses and Ophelia finds herself in a convent, again she is confronted with an individual who could either be classed as mad or experiencing something divine and mystical. Obsession and madness tread a very thin line and the detail in Klein's writing is just brilliant. Even us, as bystanders, cannot easily make a judgement.

This is a fantastic book. It was classed as fiction for young adults, but I think it would be suited to readers much older. The writing is intelligent, inspired and insightful. This is a piece of work that the author should be very proud of - I am eager to see what she will offer us next.

A wonderful read!

It is such a very long time since I enjoyed a book as much as this! I was quite sorry when I'd finished it. It is imaginative, inspiring amd extremely easy to follow - from the atmospheric Castle Elsinore, to the wonderful and exciting characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could read it again almost immediately (if I hadn't more than a hundred others - unread and waiting!!)

I recommend this book to anyone!

Definitely five stars!