Fair Rosaline: The most exciting historical retelling of 2023: a subversive, powerful untelling of Romeo and Juliet

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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 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.

Hamnet meets My Dark Vanessa in this fierce, feminist, intensely gripping novel; captivating and chillingly relevant, FAIR ROSALINE takes everything you thought you knew about Romeo and Juliet and turns it on its head . . .

'Irresistible. An excellent spin on a timeless classic'
Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of ARIADNE

'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 this summer'
Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE WOLF DEN

'Intelligent, imaginative, irreverent. Solomons has created a gripping Romeo and Juliet for the 21st century'
Annabel Abbs

*SELECTED AS ONE TO WATCH IN 2023 IN THE EVENING STANDARD*

Reviews

'Irresistible. An excellent spin on a timeless classic.' - Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne

'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 this summer.' - Elodie Harper, bestselling author of The Wolf Den

'Intelligent, imaginative, irreverent. Solomons has created a gripping Romeo and Juliet for the 21st century.' - Annabel Abbs

'

A brilliant, feminist re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline is a gorgeously written version of Verona from Juliet's cousin, Rosaline's, point of view. What does Romeo truly look like through the eyes of a woman on the periphery of the original story Natasha Solomons skillfully shows us another version of the star-crossed lovers - and the Romeo --we all think we know. I absolutely devoured this thought-provoking, female-centric take on Shakespeare.

' - Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of Beautiful Little Fools

'Exquisitely written, wonderfully lyrical and richly immersive - this a story we all know made fresh and chillingly relevant, refracted through a feminist lens.' - Ellery Lloyd, author of PEOPLE LIKE HER

Author Bio

Natasha Solomons is the author of five internationally bestselling novels, including Mr Rosenblum's List, The Novel in the Viola, which was chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club, and I, Mona Lisa. Natasha lives in Dorset with her son, daughter and her husband, the children's author David Solomons, with whom she also writes screenplays. Her novels have been translated into 17 languages. When not writing in the studio, Natasha can usually be found in her garden.