Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
E. Nesbit (1858–1924), 1907
★ 4.14 from 1k ratings on Goodreads
Shakespeare's plays retold as clear, quick stories, so you know the plot before you meet the poetry. The plays come across as clear, quick tales told in a warm, plain voice, with curiosity and wonder left intact.
Feels like curiosity and wonder. About love, ambition and power.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you want the plots of Shakespeare's plays in plain prose before tackling the verse. It is a children's retelling, though, so it won't give you Shakespeare's actual poetry or the full complexity of the plays.
Why read it
Read it when you want to meet the plays' plots and characters without the barrier of unfamiliar language; it gives you the storylines clearly and quickly.
Pages from the book
What lovers say when they are trying to invent the sweetest words.
She was frightened at first, but when she saw that it was Romeo himself, and no stranger, she too was glad, and, he standing in the garden below and she leaning from the window, they spoke long together, each one trying to find the sweetest words in the world, to make that pleasant talk that lovers use. And the tale of all they said, and the sweet music their voices made together, is all set down in a golden book, where you children may read it for yourselves some day. The cynic at every dinner party who is, annoyingly, quite cheerful.
This Apemantus was a frank despiser of mankind, but a healthy one, because he was not unhappy. In this mixed world anyone with a number of acquaintances knows a person who talks bitterly of men, but does not shun them, and boasts that he is never deceived by their fine speeches, and is inwardly cheerful and proud. Apemantus was a man like that. What we fall for is rarely the face in front of us.
Brabantio accused Othello before the Duke of Venice of using sorcery to fascinate his daughter, but Othello said that the only sorcery he used was his voice, which told Desdemona his adventures and hairbreadth escapes. Desdemona was led into the council-chamber, and she explained how she could love Othello despite his almost black face by saying, “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind.” E. Nesbit.Edith Nesbit was a founding Fabian and wrote in a chaotic household of children and waifs; Five Children and It appeared five years before these retellings.
Books that feel like this
More by E. Nesbit
Five Children and It
E. Nesbit, 1902
Five siblings dig up a grumpy sand-fairy who grants one wish a day, and every wish goes gloriously wrong. Edwardian mischief with real teeth.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for me?
- You may like it if you want the plots of Shakespeare's plays in plain prose before tackling the verse. It is a children's retelling, though, so it won't give you Shakespeare's actual poetry or the full complexity of the plays.
- What is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare like?
- The plays come across as clear, quick tales told in a warm, plain voice, with curiosity and wonder left intact. Feels like curiosity and wonder. About love, ambition and power.
- What should I read after Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare?
- If you liked Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, try Grimm's Fairy Tales (Jacob Grimm), Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) and Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo).
A taste of the feed
A girl too tired to take a bed that isn't hers.
She walked the whole night long, and next day also without stopping, until she could go no farther for weariness. Then she saw a forest-hut, and went into it, and found a room with six little beds. She did not venture to get into any of them, but crept under one, and lay down on the hard ground, to pass the night there. Just before sunset she heard a rustling, and saw six Swans come flying in at the window. They alighted on the ground and blew at each other, and blew all the feathers off, and their swan’s skins stripped off like a shirt.
Grimm's Fairy Tales · Jacob Grimm
Cold enough that the sky stops being any comfort at all.
Joe made the fire and swept the hearth, and then we went to the door to listen for the chaise-cart. It was a dry cold night, and the wind blew keenly, and the frost was white and hard. A man would die tonight of lying out on the marshes, I thought. And then I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude.
Great Expectations · Charles Dickens
The nervous arithmetic of finding the right compliment.
If only Anya’s eyes were blue like the sea or green like an emerald. Instead, her eyes were brown—lovely, dreamy … melted chocolate brown? Rabbit fur brown?
Six of Crows · Leigh Bardugo
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