True Love

I was attracted to the novel The Hundred Loves of Juliet when I realised it was a Romeo and Juliet book:

After a bad breakup, Helene Janssen runs away to Alaska to find some peace and quiet. She’s been dreaming up bits and pieces of a novel for years and hopes to finally have time to write it.

 On her first night there, Helene meets Sebastien Montague, a gruff fisherman who looks exactly like the hero in the book she’s working on. But how is that even possible? 

 Sebastien seems to recognise Helene, too, but he lies about it and brushes her off, even though their chemistry is like a live wire—immediate and undeniable.

 It turns out that she’s Juliet, reincarnated, and he’s Romeo, lost in time. And if Helene can convince Sebastien to give her a chance, maybe this time they can rewrite the ending of their story and find a true happily ever after.

I love Shakespeare but have mixed feelings about the story Romeo and Juliet. The Franco Zeffirelli film of this play is exquisitely beautiful. I have watched it multiple times. It’s a great love story. Or is it? Does following our beloved to death, refusing to live without them, prove our love? Or is that not what love is all about? Perhaps Romeo, if he truly loved Juliet, should have continued living without her, offering Masses for her soul. Having expressed that opinion, many people might sigh dramatically, saying, “Sue, it’s only a story! Don’t spoil it.” And they’d have a point. Who will watch a movie that ends with the hero saying, “I must find Friar Laurence and ask him to offer a Mass for Juliet.” But if he’d done that, Juliet might have woken up while he was gone. Tragedy could have been averted.

While reading The Hundred Loves of Juliet, I remembered a draft manuscript of a novel I wrote quite a few years ago. I searched my files for it, wondering if it’s worth finishing. The novel is called The Shakespeare Breakspeares. I wrote it in 30 days as a NaNoWriMo challenge.

On the first day of the challenge, all I had was a one-sentence idea: this story will be about a family of six girls named after Shakespearean heroines. Thirty days later, I had a novel with the central themes of dreams and love. Should we be brave, go in a different direction and try something new? Where will our courage lead us? What will we learn? While Mr Breakspeare is exploring his dreams with his family by his side, I write about an old dusty cottage in the middle of the drought-affected bush, a locked secret room without a key, a favourite uncle who refuses to accept his loss, a tragic Shakespearean actress, a TV cooking show producer with noisy high-heeled shoes, and a dramatic snakebite rescue involving a helicopter. 

Rereading the manuscript, I’m aware that the novel needs lots of work if I’m going to get it to a stage where it’s worthy of being published. But I have plenty of time. I could give it a go. I’ve been making notes as I’ve been reading. New ideas are popping into my head. I love how that happens.

Each morning, during my quiet time, I spend a few minutes scribbling in my journal before my family gets out of bed. I list a few things I’d like to achieve each day. Lately, I’ve been writing: Work on my novel.

Last night, I finished The Hundred Loves of Juliet. So what did I think? Well, the story idea was intriguing, but it didn’t quite work for me. Although there were elements of fantasy in the book – no one in the real world has lived for hundreds of years – everything still had to make sense. Throughout the novel, I wondered how Sebastien and Helene would resolve their situation. How were they going to break the curse? Would they search through history to find something they’d missed? Could they put past wrongs right? I was eager to find out. I won’t tell you how the novel ended. All I’ll say is that I was disappointed. I felt a bit cheated. The ending didn’t resolve everything and answer all my questions.

I wonder if my Shakespeare novel will have a satisfying ending. Will anyone like it? What if no one discovers how my book ends because no one wants to read it? Should I bother finishing The Shakespeare Breakspeares?  Oh yes. We shouldn’t pursue only the things guaranteed to be successes, should we? Whatever our project is, we must begin and see where things lead. And enjoy the process. We’re sure to learn something if nothing else.

So, I’m writing a Shakespeare-inspired novel. It’s a love story like Romeo and Juliet and The Hundred Loves of Juliet. But in my book, no one dies. No one refuses to live because things aren’t going their way. My Breakspeare family will face challenges, draw close as they help each other and their friends, and have lots of fun along the way. At least, that’s what I’m hoping will happen. But who knows? Books have a life of their own. Sometimes, they turn in unexpected directions, driven by an unseen power.

Just like us.

Photo

Julia Kadel, Unsplash.

So, what do you think?

Have you read any good Shakespeare-inspired novels? Are you working on a project of your own at the moment? Have you ever wanted to write a book? And what do you think true love is all about?