Ophelia's Fan (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780393327663)

Christine Balint reimagines the bittersweet life of Harriet Smithson, the tragedienne who brought Shakespeare to the French. Born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1800, Harriet is left in the care of the elderly priest Father Barrett, and is brought up on Lamb's Shakespeare, lime-sherbet sweets, and prayer. A child of traveling players, her ultimate inheritance is Covent Garden, London, the green room, and the theater's rough magic. With the arrival of Charles Kemble's English Theatre troupe in Paris in 1827, the Odeon Theatre is awash with the drama and music of Shakespeare. Harriet is Ophelia. The French Romantics swoon, traffic stops, and the high-society women plait straw in their hair in honor of her mad Ophelia. The fiery composer Hector Berlioz falls in love. In Ophelia's Fan, Balint re-creates the texture and breadth of the nineteenth century and brings alive Harriet Smithson; the actress and the woman, her roles and her loves. Reading group guide included.

Author: Christine Balint
ISBN-10: 0393327663
ISBN-13: 9780393327663
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English
Published: 10/01/2005
Pages: 364
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 8.24h x 5.52w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Kliatt 03/01/2006 pg. 19