A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina DoddMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another surprising new find in the mystery section of the Washington County library system, this is the first of a speculative new series of quasi fantastical historical thrillers set in medieval Italy and focusing on Rosaline, daughter of Romeo and Juliet, who faked their mutual suicide and broke free of their feuding families to start a family of their own. It’s a bizarre combo of Shakespearean wit and Rosaline’s twentysomething snark to lend the prose a modern twist or two. Naturally, literary professors would be liable to shit their pants reading this - I’m especially picturing David Strathairn’s character on A Man on the Inside - but for the rest of us, it’s a promising start to a new series, and while it doesn’t quite stick the landing, I’m still glad to have Book 2 on my shelf already.
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