Title: Hamlet’s Father
Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Subterranean; limited edition
Release Date: April 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-1596062696
Size: 104 pages, 5.5×8, hardcover
Genre: Speculative
This title not eligible for a Whitney Award. Too short.
We all know Shakespeare’s classic ghost story–the young prince Hamlet’s dead father appears to him, demanding vengeance upon Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who has usurped the throne and, to add insult to injury, married Hamlet’s mother.
Hamlet dithers and delays, coming up with reason after reason to postpone his vengeance. But it’s not for the reason Shakespeare told us. It’s because Hamlet keeps discovering evidence that things are not quite what they seem in the Kingdom of Denmark–and never have been, throughout Hamlet’s entire life.
Once you’ve read Orson Scott Card s revelatory version of the Hamlet story, Shakespeare’s play will be much more fun to watch–because now you’ll know what’s really going on.
