Before There Was Juliet...

 Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons

For most of my teaching career, I taught freshman English, which means I taught Romeo and Juliet A LOT. Every time I read it, I find little things I never noticed before (like there's an Ok Boomer-type joke between Capulet and one of his guests). One thing I have always pointed out to my students is that Romeo isn't the romantic hero that time has made him out to be. He's flighty and lovesick. He's a creeper (I mean, he jumps the wall to Juliet's backyard, watches her while she's talking to herself, then, once she's poured her heart out, lets her know he's there). He's also sixteen hitting on a thirteen-year-old child. 

When we read R&J, all we learn of Rosaline is that until mere moments before he sees Juliet, Romeo is in love with Rosaline, and that she is going to become a nun. I have always jokingly said that Romeo drove her to a sex-free life (without actually saying that because I'd like to keep my job). As it turns out, Rosaline is bound for the nunnery because it's what her father wants. Allegedly, it is what her dead mother wanted too, as a letter left for Rosaline after her mother's death indicates as much. The problem with that is that her mother was illiterate and couldn't write, so this letter was "dictated" to her father and he wrote it. Somehow methinks he made that up. 

At any rate, Rosaline manages to get her father to agree to let her be free for a bit before going to the nunnery. She wants a year, but her father gives her twelve days. The first thing she does is dress as a man and go to a party at the Montague house. Of course, she meets Romeo. He says pretty words and she falls in love with him. Oh, and he's like 25 in this book, and Rosaline is 15 (and Juliet is still 13, so ewwwww). Anyway, he weasels his way into her bed and deflowers her, which is not going to bode well at the nunnery, but she believes Romeo when he says he wants to marry her. All those lines he is famous for in R&J he has used on every conquest he's had. 

Romeo is slick. He gets Rosaline drunk and/or roofied, and steals the necklace that was her mother's. He tells her that she gave it to him. He convinces her to steal money from her father. Then there are little chinks in the armor, if you will. First, there is a young (like 12) girl who is pregnant with Romeo's baby. Then, when she is visiting the nunnery in Mantua, she finds the cell/room of a young woman who was also one of Romeo's conquests. Ultimately, they were both poisoned by Friar Laurence (remember that soliloquy when he talks about the duality of plants?).

When Rosaline confronts Romeo at the Capulet's party, he, of course, denies everything. The rest, as they say, is history. We all know the story. What we don't know is that Rosaline, with the help of Tybalt, tries to get through to Juliet, but she's not having it. 

And Tybalt? His death is a bit more grisly in this book than what Willie Shakes wrote. Like Romeo stabs him more than once and there's viscera everywhere. Oh, and they're fighting in the graveyard, not the middle of town.

There are just enough little differences to make this interesting, but on the whole, this book is mid, as the kids say. Am I glad I read it? I guess so, but if I'd never read it, I could've been fine too.