"Women may fall, / when there's no strength in men."

Enter the Body has an extraordinarily creative premise: four young women who died tragically in Shakespeare's most famous works retell their own lives and deaths. Within the First Look, Joy McCullough does a wonderful job of developing Juliet's voice through verse chapters. I look forward to reading the sections devoted to Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia, too. I wonder if teen readers will be a little perplexed by the title. They may also need a fairly strong background in the Bard's tragedies to pick up on the context and connect with the characters. A solid interest in historical fiction will be needed to get past the cover, which I see as too much Shakespeare and not enough tragic heroine. But after reading this excerpt, I would certainly encourage anyone to read the book in its entirety!