Enter Three Witches: A Story of Macbeth

From SLJ May 2007

Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI -- School Library Journal, 4/23/2007

COONEY, Caroline B. Enter Three Witches: A Story of Macbeth. 281p. CIP. Scholastic. 2007. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-439-71156-2. LC 2006015278.

Gr 8 Up–This is a novelized version of Shakespeare’s grim tale of the depths to which the lust for power can plunge the human soul. Fourteen-year-old Lady Mary, a ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth, tells of the interweaving of events that cause her master’s downfall and thrust her world into turmoil. She is a court favorite, being groomed to be mistress of her own castle when she weds. However, when her father betrays King Duncan and is hanged as a traitor, she is suddenly an outcast—demoted to the position of a mere scullery maid—whose very life is in constant danger. How she grows from being a pampered child to a young woman of strength and courage who must face her fate and try to prevent more lives from being crushed by her power-hungry guardians is the crux of this engaging tale. Both the chapters and their parts are introduced with pertinent lines from the play, and the text uses some of the actual dialogue as well. While it may be difficult at first, the language is so interesting and appropriate that readers will soon become comfortable with the elevated tone. Mary’s fully developed character is plagued with doubts and fears, yet driven to do what is right and just. As part of the ever-growing genre of prose adaptations of the Bard’s works, Cooney’s novel can take its place at the top with Lisa Klein’s Ophelia (Bloomsbury, 2006), providing its readers with an engaging, realistic tale that will catapult them toward wanting to experience Shakespeare’s original play.

« Back | Print