Title: Fair Rosaline

Author: Natasha Solomons

Genre: Historical Fiction/Retelling

Publisher: Manilla Press

Publication Date: 3rd August 2023

Rating: 4/5

Cover:

Summary:

THE GREATEST EVER LOVE STORY WAS 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 realises 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?

A subversive, powerful untelling of Shakespeare’s best-known tale, narrated by a fierce, forgotten voice: this is Rosaline’s story.

Review:

I love Shakespeare so I was fascinated and intrigued by the concept of Fair Rosaline – an ‘untelling’ of his most famous work, Romeo and Juliet. Happily, I can confirm that Fair Rosaline was as thought provoking a read as I’d hoped. I always find a different interpretation of a classic story interesting and placing a very different veil of perception on, perhaps the most famous love story of all time, brings up some truly intriguing theories and themes. I love that Rosaline, of whom we know virtually nothing from Shakespeare’s play, is given an identity and spark that breathes life into this book. The language in Fair Rosaline is mostly modern with some Shakespearean elements sprinkled throughout – which I think worked well for the style of the novel, giving it a fresh and contemporary feel.

Rosaline is a compelling character and her voice carries the story as we see characters we think we know through a very different lens. Did Fair Rosaline completely change the way I think about Romeo and Juliet? I’m not sure, but it certainly succeeds in calling the general understanding into question a little, and I think it’s a pretty persuasive and more modern interpretation of the tale. I love when a book challenges the narrative of famous stories, and I think it’s important to re-examine those narratives too – especially one as universal as Romeo and Juliet. Overall, I found Fair Rosaline engaging, intriguingly subversive and definitely worth reading this summer.

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Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

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