The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet

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Laced with quotes, references, and in-jokes, this novel upends everything you thought you knew about Hamlet, featuring cross-dressing, bed-tricks, mistaken identity, and a bisexual love triangle inspired by Shakespeare's sonnets. Witty, insightful, and playful, it is a delectable treat for fans of works like Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World and John Updike's Gertrude and Claudius. Horatio, a Divinity scholar at Wittenberg University, prides himself on his ability to argue both sides of any debate but remains a skeptic, never fully believing in any philosophy. This changes when he meets the flamboyant Prince of Denmark, who teaches him more about life than any book. However, Hamlet is haunted by a sense of tragic destiny he believes is preordained. When a freelance translation job evolves into a theatrical production, Horatio arranges for the theater-loving prince to act as the heroine, attracting the attention of Horatio's patroness, the dark and manipulative Lady Adriana. A voracious reader of both literature and people, she tests whether the "platonic true-love" in Horatio's poems is genuinely platonic. Complications arise when a mysterious rival poet, "Will Shake-speare," begins to court both Prince Hamlet and his Dark Lady, forcing Horatio to confront his skepticism and his love.