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The Ghostly Father

A Mystery Romance Based on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet

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The Ghostly Father

By: Sue Barnard, Ocelot Press
Narrated by: Danielle Cohen, Philip Rose
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About this listen

Think you know the world's most famous love story? Think again. What if the story of Romeo and Juliet really happened - but not quite in the way we've all been told?

This part-prequel, part-sequel to the original tale, told from the point of view of the Friar, tells how an ancient Italian manuscript reveals secrets and lies which have remained hidden for hundreds of years, and casts new doubts on the official story of Shakespeare's famous star-crossed lovers.

If you love the Romeo and Juliet story but are disappointed with the way it ended, this is the book for you.

©2017 Sue Barnard, Ocelot Press (P)2020 Spectrum Audiobooks Fantasy Fiction Historical Fiction Romance

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Listener received this title free

Beautifully written and wonderfully told, if you want to hear the ''real" story of Romeo and Juliet, this is the listen for you. It follows Friar Lorenzo as he navigates a tricky path through the streets of Verona and Venice, smoothing the way for the star-crossed lovers. Seeing things unfold through his eyes gives a different and refreshing take on the traditional story. His character is very well drawn and the narrator gives him the perfect voice. Being based on a play, The Ghostly Father lends itself very well indeed to the audio format.

A superb listen!

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Listener received this title free

How would you feel if you came into possession of a 15th century book written in Italian that told the truth about one of the world's most enduring love stories? This is what happens to Sue Barnard's character when she is asked to translate the book by an elderly relative,. She discovers the book was written by Father Lawrence, a minorish character in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and in the audio version Fra Lorenzo, as he becomes in Sue book, is a far more important character, specially as we discover that before becoming a Franciscan monk, he came from a wealthy, aristocratic family, and had fallen in love with Ciara. The relationship mirrors that of Romeo and Juliet in many ways, in that it is short lived with Lorenzo entering the monastic order and Juliet pretending to have drowned at sea. In reality she moves to Verona and adopts a new identity.
She marries the head of the Montague family who accepts the child she is carrying (in reality Lawrence is the father) and Romeo grows up as a Montague.
She Romeo and Juliet story then runs mostly as we know it from Shakespeare, though it is beautifully told by Father Lorenzo who has moved to the Verona monastery.
Father Lorenzo then comes into his own, guiding Romeo and Juliet as much as he can, so that although Shakespeare's death of one and suicide of the other is staged (although the suicide becomes a banishment for life), Father Lorenzo's (the ghostly father of the title) subterfuge manages to reunite the two young lovers in another town with new identities.
Much more happens, but I won't spoil a beautiful story, told by an excellent author.
I will say that The Ghostly Father is an excellent retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

A wonderful twist on the Romeo and Juliet story

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Listener received this title free

An entertaining interpretation of the most famous romantic classic. very well read. Compelling to the end.

Entertaining and well read

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