O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell

O, what a fantastic book!

I'm a book lover, especially hardback books. I know I'm going to have to surrender to the digital age and buy an e-book reader or a tablet, but I'm still trying to hold out. However, collecting hardback books get to be a very expensive hobby. So, I frequent nearby thrift stores, dollar stores, and library book sales to get my fill of books. This was a dollar store find (I also teach science at my kids' school as a volunteer, and Dolllar Stores are great for science project supplies).

I never liked Romeo and Juliet. I prefer The Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale, Henry V, The Tempest, Macbeth, etc. Romeo and Juliet seemed overly sentimental and stupidly tragic. And Juliet's nurse and Romeo's Friar should have known better than to not only encourage but to aid in the teenage lovers' hair-brained schemes.

Having said that, I loved O, Juliet. If this had been Shakespeare's original play, I would have loved it, too. It added so many layers and texture to the story. Most of the characters felt real and alive, and each had strong motivation in their backstories to explain their own journey to the tragic end.

Spoiler Alert~ 

Set in the opulent world of Don Cosimo de Medici in Florence, our Juliet is best friends with Don Cosimo's would be daughter-in-law Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who replaces Juliet's nurse as her confidante. Lucrezia's upcoming marriage to Piero casts a pall on Juliet. She, too, has an upcoming marriage, except it's to a man she despises. At Lucrezia's betrothal ball, Juliet meets Romeo, and  they fall in love over Dante's love poetry.

Though they are from warring families and their hatred go back for at least two generations, there is hope. The parents on both sides, fathers especially, are more than willing to forgive one another and reconcile. However, Juliet's betrothal, Jacopo Strozzi, will not stand by and watch Juliet fall through his fingers. Though he doesn't love Juliet, he needs the business partnership with Juliet's father for secure his future, and he'll not lose out on that for something as silly and insignificant as love. 

Jacopo Strozzi sets the major pieces of Romeo and Juliet in motion and brings about the tragic end to their classic love story.

I can't say enough how much I loved this book. The original pales in comparison with this awesome book. 

Whether you pay $1 or $15, this books is well worth the price of the book (can you tell I like to buy books?). Go check it out and enjoy! I'm going to check out other books by the same author. Since I like de Medici's Florence so much, I think I'm going to check out Signora da Vinci, about Leonardo da Vinci's young mother.