Hag-Seed is a re-visiting of Shakespeare's play of magic and illusion, The Tempest, and will be the fourth novel in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
The Tempest is set on a remote island full of strange noises and creatures. Here, Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, plots to restore the fortunes of his daughter Miranda by using magic and illusion - starting with a storm that will bring Antonio, his treacherous brother, to him. All Prospero, the great sorcerer, needs to do is watch as the action he has set in train unfolds.
In Margaret Atwood's 'novel take' on Shakespeare's original, theatre director Felix has been unceremoniously ousted from his role as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Festival. When he lands a job teaching theatre in a prison, the possibility of revenge presents itself - and his cast find themselves taking part in an interactive and illusion-ridden version of The Tempest that will change their lives forever.
There's a lot of Shakespearean swearing in this new Tempest adventure...but also a mischief, curiosity and vigour that's entirely Atwood and is sure to delight her fans.
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[Felix brushes his teeth](Hogarth, 6 October 2016, 293 pages, hardback, borrowed from my library)
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I'm a huge fan of Atwood and Hag-Seed is no exception. I love it when authors take a well-known story and do something new and interesting with it.
Hag-Seed is an amazing book, a joy to read. Atwood tackles some big themes - revenge, forgiveness, grief, loss and finding your place in the world when everything's been stripped away. The book uses an usual play-within-a-play format which made reading a lot of fun.
Felix is a great character, pompous, passionate, driven, flawed and human. He is a great central character. I disliked him at times by had great sympathy for him. Felix does not just want revenge on the people who had taken his career. His motivations seem one-sided at first - purely revenge. However, as the book develops it becomes clear he has a deeper motivation prompted by grief - he wants to memorise his dead daughter Miranda who was named after a character in The Tempest.
Hag-Seed is ravishing, I devoured and loved every word.
