First published 2020
Helena, the orphaned daughter of a court physician, lives in medieval France where moral standards have crumbled and the king lies dying from an incurable illness. She loves Bertram, a young aristocrat who wants nothing to do with her. When Helena cures the king using her father's medical knowledge, she wins his permission to marry Bertram. But nobody asked Bertram what he wanted. He finds her reprehensible and flees to the Italian wars to escape his forced marriage. Helena follows him to the battlefields of Northern Italy, where she must employ the same deceptive "bed trick" that Shakespeare used in Measure for Measure. This guided edition strips away Shakespeare's challenging language barriers while preserving the complete story. Jeremy Abrams explains unfamiliar terms before you encounter them and provides historical context throughout. Minor passages get trimmed to sharpen the focus, just like stage performances do. The result delivers the pleasure of seeing Shakespeare performed while reading at your own pace.
Genres: drama, romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: bed-trick, enemies-to-lovers
Setting: France, Italy
Period: Medieval
161 pages · Paperback · Independently published