"This witty, erudite, and decidedly sexy novel stands all of the usual questions about Shakespeare on end.[...] Combining famous lines of dialogue and plot from several plays, Hermes manages to create both a moving story that stands on its own, and a giant in-joke for Shakespeare lovers."-- Booklist
"Myrlin Hermes delivers the kind of wit, creativity, and verbal eloquence which is rarely seen in contemporary novels...[with] a shameless audacity comparable to Tom Stoppard...Hermes is truly a master of the bawdy double entendre." --Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania
"Hermes' counterversion of the 'true' tale of Elsinore is based on a deep and perceptive reading of the conflicts and mysteries inside the play. [...] She's imagined, most entertainingly, how such an astonishing artist might have come to be."
-- Bob Hicks, The Oregonian
A sensitive Southern woman takes decades to learn from her past and make a genuine family connection in this emotionally laden first novel. Leavening her narrative with touches of mysticism, Hermes explores the fragile aspect of love and how the neurotic fear of losing it can have disastrous consequences. [...] Hermes displays courage in her emotional explorations, revealing her characters' complex motives in extensive dialogue and unobtrusive third-person prose, then leading them to discover for themselves that in order to love or be loved, they must allow themselves to become vulnerable. Her grasp of domestic joy and sadness, and her evocation of life in a small Southern town, add texture to this uplifting weeper. --Publishers Weekly
