5 h 22 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A ghost brings a warning, a shipwreck leads to disguise, and love crosses a bitter family feud.
In Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, E. Nesbit turns Shakespeare’s plays into short prose tales for young readers. The Tempest brings you to an island with Prospero and Miranda. Twelfth Night follows Viola as she puts on boy’s clothes to find work after a shipwreck. Each story offers a clear path through the people, plots and feelings of a play.
Love and power test people across the collection. In Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers belong to families whose servants fight in Verona’s streets. In Hamlet, a prince meets his father’s ghost and must decide how to act on what he learns. Nesbit keeps the shape of the plots and some of Shakespeare’s own words, making room for wonder, laughter and darker deeds.
What you’ll discover
- Magic on a lonely island Meet Prospero, a magician living with his daughter Miranda and seeking to settle old wrongs.
- A disguise after shipwreck Follow Viola into a duke’s house, where boy’s clothes offer work and safety.
- Love across a feud Meet Juliet as her love for Romeo crosses the hatred between their families.
- A ghost with troubling news Enter Hamlet’s world, where his father’s ghost brings news that demands a response.
- One tale at a time Enjoy plots you can follow in a single sitting, with some of Shakespeare’s own words.
Who will love it
Readers who love fairy tales, love stories and family drama will enjoy it, as will anyone who wants to know the plots of the plays before seeing them on stage or opening the originals.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Magic can tangle love and then untangle it
- Disguise lets lovers say what they cannot
- Jealousy and slander can wreck a happy home
- Pride and old quarrels cost families dearly
- Ambition and revenge drive the darkest tales
- Mix-ups, bargains and clever law bring laughter
- A storyteller's voice and a book of sayings
Who’s who
- PuckOberon's quick and mischievous spirit, who plays tricks on mortals and mistakes one sleeper for another with a love-flower.
- ProsperoA scholarly duke cast out to sea with his young daughter, who uses magic on an island to set things right.
- RosalindA banished duke's daughter who escapes to the Forest of Arden dressed as a shepherd and keeps her love secret.
- ViolaA shipwrecked young woman who fears her twin brother has drowned and takes work as a duke's page.
- King LearAn aging king who divides his kingdom among his daughters and wants to hear how much each one loves him.
- PortiaA rich and clever lady of Belmont whose father set a test of three caskets for her suitors.
- HamletA Danish prince who is told by a ghost to avenge his father, and who hesitates.
- MacbethA Scottish general who meets three witches on a heath and hears a promise of the crown.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 22 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Bei racconti da Shakespeare
by E. Nesbit; William Shakespeare · 1907
Puck mixes up a love potion in a fairy wood, and four young lovers pay the price.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you do if a flower could make anyone love the first creature they see? That magic shapes the first tale in Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, written by E. Nesbit.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Magic can tangle love and then untangle it
Nesbit opens with two tales in which magic steers the heart. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia and Lysander run into a wood to escape a cruel Athenian law, and Demetrius and Helena follow them. The fairy king Oberon and the fairy queen Titania are in the wood, quarreling over a little Indian boy.
Oberon sends the mischief-making Puck to fetch a purple flower whose juice makes a sleeper love the first creature seen on waking. Puck anoints the wrong young man, and soon both men chase Helena while Hermia is left behind. Titania wakes to find a clown wearing a donkey's head, and she adores him. In The Tempest, the wronged Duke Prospero uses magic on a lonely island. With the help of his spirit Ariel, he brings his old enemies and a young prince safely ashore.
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What is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare about?
It retells twenty of Shakespeare's plays as short prose stories, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and The Merchant of Venice, with a section of well-known sayings at the end.
Which plays does the book cover?
The book covers comedies, romances and tragedies: Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Measure for Measure and more.
Who wrote Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare?
E. Nesbit wrote the retellings in prose. The plots, characters and sayings come from William Shakespeare's plays, which she tells in a warm, direct voice.
The author
E. Nesbit
1858–1924 · English children's writer and poet
Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) was an English author and poet who published as E. Nesbit. She was born in London and later lived in Kent. Her children’s books include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904), and The Railway Children (1906).
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