Author: David Gray
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Escape From Verona, Juliet's long-lost diary, begins where Shakespeare leaves off, explaining how she and Romeo fake their deaths and escape from the Capulet family tomb. Their escape does not bring peace to Verona. They are accused of murder and witchcraft and are hunted by powerful forces, including the Papacy and the Venetian government.
Their adventures require not only eluding capture, but they must also learn what it means to love one another without the backdrop of their family feud. What sacrifices are required for a well-bred young woman and a proud young swordsman to survive together? Is heedless passion enough to make their marriage last?
As the lovers flee across northeast Italy they encounter many other characters made famous in Shakespeare's plays, Petruchio, Shylock, Desdemona and Othello among them. Their efforts are further aided by many of the artists of the late Renaissance, including Palladio, Tintoretto, Veronese and Titian. --Goodreads
When I first picked up Escape From Verona, I admit that I was one nervous reader. This was due in part because Romeo and Juliet is my all-time favorite Shakespeare play. And I’m a huge Shakespeare geek. I own his entire collection (as well as a lot of double copies because I like to collect some just strictly for the covers or editions). So, going into this story I was nervous to see how it would play out. How well the characters would continue on AFTER. And it astounded me.
The amount of detail and research that was put into this novel was phenomenal and so well-crafted. I read through this with such ease and I thoroughly loved every bit of it. To see things with Romeo and Juliet, a life between the couple on the run after faked suicides was excellent. I can honestly say that if Shakespeare were alive today, I think he’d be very proud if he read this.
Romeo was a bit annoying to be honest. Haha! And I felt that the brief sex scenes (though few and far in between) weren’t really all the necessary and didn’t HAVE to be included or detailed but that’s just my opinion. But I really liked how the characters were developed for the readers. We see some interesting sides to them all. I loved the inclusion of characters from other plays!
I definitely recommend this if you’re a Shakespeare fan. Especially if you like Romeo and Juliet. I know I’ll probably be rereading this one!
4.5 stars!
