Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Annelie Geissler
Categories
Children’s, Teenage & Educational

ENTER THE BODY

Joy McCullough

Each time their characters die on stage, Shakespeare's women fall into a universal trap room beneath all the stages everywhere...

They're stuck in the stories the Bard gave them. Until Juliet reaches out to find Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia, willing to hear her story. Through verse, these tragic heroines, from Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus, tell their stories as they were told originally. But then through scripted dialogue with each other, they push back on these narratives and begin to tell the stories anew. Joy McCullough's debut young adult novel Blood Water Paint (Penguin) won the Washington State and Pacific Northwest books awards, as well as honors such as the National Book Award longlist, finalist for the ALA Morris Award, a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and four starred reviews. Her debut middle grade novel, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Simon & Schuster) was a Junior Library Guild Selection. She writes books and plays from her home in the Seattle area, where she lives with her husband and two children. She studied theater at Northwestern University, fell in love with her husband atop a Guatemalan volcano, and now spends her days surrounded by books and kids and chocolate.

Available products
Book Published 2023-03-14 by Dutton

Comments

McCullough's understanding of dramatic genre deeply informs the directions her heroines' revised accounts take.Form as a mode of personal expression is conscious, deliberate, and stunningly effective here and elevates this novel above and beyond many run-of-the-mill Shakespeare retellings to a carefully constructed and emotionally resonant consideration of tragedy and autonomy... this will be a revelation for teens seeking to claim their own narrative as a distinct and whole person outside of adult or societal input.

ENTER THE BODY turns Shakespeare on his head while honoring his talent as the girls retells their stories on their own terms. Each speaking character cleverly receives a distinct verse style befitting their original characterizations... While readers familiar with the original works will get the most out of this striking combination of formats in the shape of a novel, Shakespeare novices will appreciate the masterful command of prose, script, and verse alongside the classic stories from unexpected perspectives... This truly outstanding offering will leave readers pining for a continuation with Shakespeare's adult women taking up the pen.

All readers will emerge with a more thorough understanding of these girls' stories along with a deep sense of grief for the independence their fathers (and ultimately Shakespeare) denied them... This work elevates and reenergizes the canon; it's an absolute must-read regardless of readers' knowledge or opinion of Shakespeare.

...These teenage girls reach out to each other, share their stories, and dance. Is this the way they can finally stop their mad cycles of sexual assault, death, and partner violence? In the end, they unburden their souls and are left with a sense of hope. Written in verse, this novel explores the topic of violence against women and, ultimately, their response to it... This is a strong, powerful look at the bonds women share and the power telling stories has to unburden us all.

This shifting, experimental format will surprise and challenge readers' ideas of storytelling and "classic" literature. By innovatively mining feminist themes of autonomy, exploitation, and patriarchy, McCullough boldly reconceptualizes Shakespeare's version of the female point of view for a new generation of Bard enthusiasts.