Juliet's Nurse by Lois Leveen. Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2014.
Adult fiction.
If you remember reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet only vaguely when you were younger, it's time for an update! In this novel, Lois Leveen gets the setting, the times, the characters, and the tone all pitch perfect in her imaginative retelling of the classic play. The nurse in the title, Angelica, comes to work as a wet nurse for Juliet soon after the baby's birth and stays into the girl's teenage years. This is her story, really, as much as Juliet's as readers learn about her husband and children and her own heartbreaks. What does it take to survive in a city where power, politics, family feuds, and plagues are mainstays of life itself? Modern readers may find much to identify with as these Veronese characters walk tightropes of the past. A teacher's guide is available at the author's website: http://loisleveen.com/index.php/loisleveen/juliets-nurse-for-teachers
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