Sixteen-year-old Selby stopped doing her homework six months ago, and when her parents find out, they hit the roof - and get her a tutor, who happens to be her older brother Eric's friend Dan. Dan tells Selby to read aloud from Hamlet, and as she does, the two of them fall into the play - literally. They appear on the battlements of Castle Elsinore and see Hamlet and his father's ghost, then follow the action of the play - and get involved. They bring Hamlet back to the bookstore with them, then decide on a course of action that will save Ophelia and reveal the truth about Claudius and the poisoning, leading to a somewhat happier ending without destroying the western canon. They also save Ophelia from drowning, and drop her into Pride & Prejudice instead, where she takes her mother's name, Katherine, and becomes fifth Bennet sister Kitty.

Selby's parents, book-lovers and bookshop owners, don't understand her lack of passion for reading, but Dan helps them see that Selby's love for stories is the important thing - not the form in which she consumes them. (And Shakespeare's plays really are meant to be performed aloud, not read.) It's also Selby's knowledge of science that helps her sort out that the poison hebenon, poured into an ear canal, could not kill a man - but small consistent doses of it in food could alter someone's (cough-HAMLET-cough) behavior. A fascinating new perspective on the play!

Quotes

"They don't feel fictional...In this world they are as real as us. This is reality for them."
"If this is their reality then we should leave them to it." (91)

"It's like a giant sinkhole has opened up in the history of literature and books are just disappearing into oblivion." (149)

"We have to let the story play out...because, in the world of books, Hamlet is one of the most important stories ever told. And books are important. The advance of ideas and literary expression is how civilisation evolves....you don't get it. You live here in a building surrounded by books, but you can't see how important they are. You can't see the wood for the trees. Books are time capsules of ideas. They are how knowledge and wisdom and art are transferred through time. They are important." (150-151)

"That's how storytelling works - it's rewritten and retold to make sense to each generation. But the kernel holds true through the ages." (199) ( )

Loved the concept but not so much the actual story. A very niche target audience for this one perhaps: teenagers with enough of an understanding of Hamlet to get into it? ( )