Beatrice and Benedick

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Fiorato, Marina	4-week checkout	Due 05-10-2024

"Hidden in the language of Shakespeare's best-loved comedy Much Ado About Nothing are several clues to an intriguing tale. It seems that the witty lovers Beatrice and Benedick had a previous love affair that ended bitterly. But how did they meet? Why did they part? And what brought them together again?When nineteen year old Beatrice is brought to live at her uncle's court in Sicily to be a companion to his daughter, she first meets Benedick, a young soldier who is there with a Spanish lord on a month-long sojourn. As they begin to wage their war of wit, their words mask their deep love for one another. But the pair are cruelly parted by misunderstanding and slander. Heartbroken, Benedick sails to England on the ill-fated Spanish Armada. Beatrice returns to her home in the North and an unwanted betrothal. While Benedick must fight for his life on board ship, Beatrice fights for her freedom from an arranged marriage. From the point of view of Beatrice and Benedick we hear the lovers tell their own story, taking us from the sunlit southern courts of Sicily, to the crippled Armada on the frozen northern seas, to the gorgeous Renaissance cities of the north. From Marina Fiorato, author of the acclaimed historical novel The Glassblower of Murano, comes a beautifully imagined Beatrice and Benedick. "-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Too modern, too much, too little Ado submitted by terpsichore17 on June 22, 2017, 9:18am Don't read this if you're really looking for connections to the Much Ado About Nothing play; you may enjoy it more if you go in looking for a Shakespearian pastiche.

- Beatrice is a proto-feminist character, yes, but here she's depicted more like a 21st century woman than the heroine of Shakespeare's play. It comes off as more self-absorbed and annoying than anything else.
- bringing the Shakespeare Question in is frustrating; that's just a distraction from the plot.
- Overall, Fiorato is trying to do too much. I understand the idea of trying to tie together as many of Shakespeare's plays and characters in one book as possible; I can see the appeal of that. However, it just becomes overwhelming. We don't get to know Beatrice and Benedick as well as we might otherwise because there is just too much else happening around them.