Inspiration for E!’s TV series The Royals and winner of the Bank Street College of Education’s Award for Best Novel, Michelle Ray’s latest work brings Ophelia’s story into the twenty-first century. Told through a hotly anticipated talk show interview, a hostile police interrogation, and Ophelia’s own intimate narration, OPHELIA: LIVE reimagines Shakespeare’s tragedy for a world of cameras, clicks, and instant judgment.
Holding tight to the core plot and iconic conversations of Hamlet, Ray asks what might drive a contemporary Ophelia caught in the royal family’s web of lies if she had a sharp sense of humor, a fierce visual imagination, and absolutely no intention of killing herself: “I would paint daggers because I could use none.” As she juggles her senior year of high school, a protective father, and the chaos of dating a prince under constant media surveillance, Ophelia is pulled into the storm of Hamlet’s grief and unraveling sanity after his father’s sudden, suspicious death.
When the violence at Elsinore Castle finally explodes onto the world stage, everyone wants to know how Ophelia survived—not just the scandal, but the boy she loved and the crown that tried to define her. OPHELIA: LIVE is the story of what happens when a girl the world expects to drown decides instead to tell the truth.
Originally published as FALLING FOR HAMLET by Little, Brown/Poppy.....
AWARD WINNER - Bank Street College of Education YA Book of the Year
WHAT OTHERS SAID:
“Everything here is engaging, most of all the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia.”
— The New York Times [full text]
“Teens will happily brush up on their Shakespeare in this wickedly smart retelling of the moody Prince of Denmark.” — Family Circle Magazine
“Falling for Hamlet is incredible. Michelle Ray has a real gift for the inclusion of those subtle but important details that make a story absolutely real. I found myself thinking about the characters as if I knew them as real people long after I finished the book. If you don’t love Falling for Hamlet you’re as crazy as Hamlet himself. There’s something wonderful in the state of Denmark.” — Trent Reedy, bestselling author of Words in the Dust
“To read or not to read will never be the question for Falling for Hamlet. Michelle Ray’s clever debut gives readers an Ophelia who is in turns humorous, clever, and full of girl power. I’m simply mad for this book.”
— Elizabeth Eulberg, author of Prom and Prejudice
“Sexy and searing, Falling for Hamlet is much more than a riveting retelling of a Shakespearean classic. Michelle Ray has crafted an artful story of a girl who comes unapologetically and forcefully into her own.”
— Justina Chen, author of Girl, Overboard
Holding tight to the core plot and iconic conversations of Hamlet, Ray asks what might drive a contemporary Ophelia caught in the royal family’s web of lies if she had a sharp sense of humor, a fierce visual imagination, and absolutely no intention of killing herself: “I would paint daggers because I could use none.” As she juggles her senior year of high school, a protective father, and the chaos of dating a prince under constant media surveillance, Ophelia is pulled into the storm of Hamlet’s grief and unraveling sanity after his father’s sudden, suspicious death.
When the violence at Elsinore Castle finally explodes onto the world stage, everyone wants to know how Ophelia survived—not just the scandal, but the boy she loved and the crown that tried to define her. OPHELIA: LIVE is the story of what happens when a girl the world expects to drown decides instead to tell the truth.
Originally published as FALLING FOR HAMLET by Little, Brown/Poppy.....
AWARD WINNER - Bank Street College of Education YA Book of the Year
WHAT OTHERS SAID:
“Everything here is engaging, most of all the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia.”
— The New York Times [full text]
“Teens will happily brush up on their Shakespeare in this wickedly smart retelling of the moody Prince of Denmark.” — Family Circle Magazine
“Falling for Hamlet is incredible. Michelle Ray has a real gift for the inclusion of those subtle but important details that make a story absolutely real. I found myself thinking about the characters as if I knew them as real people long after I finished the book. If you don’t love Falling for Hamlet you’re as crazy as Hamlet himself. There’s something wonderful in the state of Denmark.” — Trent Reedy, bestselling author of Words in the Dust
“To read or not to read will never be the question for Falling for Hamlet. Michelle Ray’s clever debut gives readers an Ophelia who is in turns humorous, clever, and full of girl power. I’m simply mad for this book.”
— Elizabeth Eulberg, author of Prom and Prejudice
“Sexy and searing, Falling for Hamlet is much more than a riveting retelling of a Shakespearean classic. Michelle Ray has crafted an artful story of a girl who comes unapologetically and forcefully into her own.”
— Justina Chen, author of Girl, Overboard