I think Shakespeare would have approved of this modern take on his story, although he may have preferred a more malicious revenge.
This story is a retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. Alex is a successful theatre director, but his rival Tony plots to take over his position. Outcast and living in a rudimentary shack, Alex takes on a job teaching drama to the inmates at a prison. He becomes very successful, but spends twelve years planning his revenge, and it reaches its climax when the prisoners perform their play, “The Tempest”.
- Sydney Morning Herald: “This is a clever, warm, funny, sophisticated novel in which she effortlessly takes on The Tempest and produces a detailed, nuanced reading of it in the form of comic fiction.”
- Ottawa Review of Books: “Atwood, as you’d expect, delivers this twisted and terribly entertaining plotline with aplomb, building a protagonist equal parts pitiable and eye-rollingly pretentious. Like the original Shakespeare, it’s surprisingly hilarious, and heartbreaking, and redemptive – and wickedly entertaining.”
Awards: Longlisted 2017 Women’s Prize for Fiction
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