A review by charlottereadshistory
Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"Revenge was not sweet, it was rotten"

This is a feminist untelling of epic proportions - I've never experienced such a well known tale to be turned on its head so drastically. 

We all know Rosaline as the girl Romeo ditches for Juliet - but in this version, Rosaline is won over by Romeo's charms due to a chance meeting at a party, and facing a future in a nunnery decides to take a chance on love. 

As time goes on (and there is a lot of world building  and lounging around in a very hot summer in Verona which felt as oppressive to read as it must have felt before the action gets going), Rosaline realises that her older suitor is a predator taking advantage of much younger girls, and her young cousin Juliet is in his sights. 

What is chilling and also probably fairly accurate for Rennaisance Italy was how much men of power and those that served them were complicit in Romeo's actions, and how women were powerless to intervene through formal channels. 

The last part of the story in particular was gripping, and I enjoyed Solomons' twists and turns as Rosaline races to save Juliet. I also really enjoyed how the source material was woven into the story and how Solomons kept Shakespeare's voice throughout in the prose.

I received an audiobook ARC for an unbiased review and have to give Sheila Atim the narrator and actress such high praise. A really enjoyable listen and I thought it was perfect for the "dark skinned and moorish featured" Rosaline to be voiced by such an accomplished Black Shakespearean actress!

The audiobook is released on the 3rd August.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings