http://bookdweeb.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/enter-three-witches-by-caroline-b-cooney/ Last week we spoke of a young adult novel about Ophelia, only in that version apparently she’s pregnant and runs off with Horatio, or something like that. This week I see “Enter Three Witches”, which revolves around Lady Mary, the 14yr old daughter of the Thane of Cawdor. Since in this case the character is entirely made up, I’m not sure if that will make people feel better or worse about butchering of the story. I suppose if you love this stuff you’ll like it, and if you hate this stuff you won’t. To each their own.
Unsurprisingly, I have read this book. Here’s my review:
This book was kind of “meh” for me. Although I do now want to reread Macbeth, so that’s good. It’s just that I didn’t really care about these minor characters, most of whom the author has invented (i.e. they’re not from Shakespeare’s version). Plus, there are way too many little story breaks/chapters, and the quotes from Macbeth that the author uses to go with the story are in no particular order, which is confusing when you are trying to follow along with the story line. It’s too bad, because I think a retelling of Macbeth from, say, Macduff’s point of view could be quite interesting.
For novelisations of Macbeth, try these three:
THE KING HEREAFTER, by Dorothy Dunnett. She writes the tale of the historic king more than Shakespeare’s play, but still incorporates the prophecy.
MACBETH THE KING, by Nigel Tranter. A similar attempt to Dunnett, without her detail.
LADY MACBETH, by Susan Fraser King. Just published, so I haven’t read it. But it looks to be a combination of Shakespeare and history.