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  • Published: 7 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9780593406779
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $26.00

Enter the Body





In the room beneath a stage's trapdoor, Shakespeare’s dead teenage girls—Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and others—compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives in their own terms.

“At once tender, poetic and ferocious, Enter The Body breathes new life into the Bard’s most tragic heroines. More than a tribute to Shakespeare, this kaleidoscopic, ambitious novel-in-verse gives Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia the chance to tell their own stories full of passion, justice, sisterhood, and love. Simply spectacular.”—Michael L. Printz Award winner Laura Ruby, author of Bone Gap

In the room beneath a stage's trapdoor, Shakespeare’s dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words. Bestselling author Joy McCullough offers a brilliant testament to how young women can support each other and reclaim their stories in the aftermath of trauma.

  • Published: 7 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9780593406779
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $26.00

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Praise for Enter the Body

“At once tender, poetic and ferocious, Enter The Body breathes new life into the Bard’s most tragic heroines. More than a tribute to Shakespeare, this kaleidoscopic, ambitious novel-in-verse gives Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia the chance to tell their own stories full of passion, justice, sisterhood, and love. Simply spectacular.”—Two-Time National Book Award Finalist and Michael L. Printz Award Winner Laura Ruby, author of Bone Gap

* "A strong, powerful look at the bonds women share and the power telling stories has to unburden us all."—SLC, starred review

* "This shifting, experimental format will surprise and challenge readers’ ideas of storytelling and “classic” literature. By innovatively mining feminist themes of autonomy, exploitation, and patriarchy, McCullough boldly reconceptualizes Shakespeare’s version of the female point of view for a new generation of Bard enthusiasts."—The Horn Book, starred review