Ophelia's Fan

By Christine Balint

Book Overview

Christine Balint reimagines the bittersweet life of Harriet Smithson, the tragedienne who brought Shakespeare to the French. Born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1800, Harriet is left in the care of the elderly priest Father Barrett, and is brought up on Lamb's Shakespeare, lime-sherbet sweets, and prayer. A child of traveling players, her ultimate inheritance is Covent Garden, London, the green room, and the theater's rough magic. With the arrival of Charles Kemble's English Theatre troupe in Paris in 1827, the Odeon Theatre is awash with the drama and music of Shakespeare. Harriet is Ophelia. The French Romantics swoon, traffic stops, and the high-society women plait straw in their hair in honor of her mad Ophelia. The fiery composer Hector Berlioz falls in love. In Ophelia's Fan, Balint re-creates the texture and breadth of the nineteenth century and brings alive Harriet Smithson; the actress and the woman, her roles and her loves. Reading group guide included.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393327663
• ISBN13: 9780393327663
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful book

Millions of people, at some time or another, have read at least a little bit of Shakespeare. He is the most popular English playwright in the world. The time in which William Shakespeare lived and worked is infinitely appealing to most people. Christine Balint has successfully brought Shakespeare's time to life in her latest novel. In Ophelia's Fan, Balint does a brilliant job of portraying the life and times of Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who is credited with bringing Shakespeare to France. The setting was spectacular. It was very interesting and well written. Balint made the small town of Ennis, Ireland come to life. Not only Ireland, but England's Drury Lane, and Paris, France were exceptionally developed. "This city opens my ears. Everything happens in waves of sound. Even voices, as I walk down the street listening to their strange music, crescendo and decrescendo as evenly as they would under the hands of a conductor," says Balint of Paris, an excellent example of her sensory images. The hardships, the plot and the setting are all realistic. Perhaps this is because although the story is fictional, the character is real. Everything in this story is historically correct and very believable. Harriet goes through many of the same problems that a struggling actress would go through now. The plot is very smooth and usually easy to follow. It was amazing to see how Balint imagined this woman's life may have been like. The basis of the plot was very real and easy to relate to. Balint did an excellent job in creating Harriet Smithson's life, and molding it to fit the story and still made it very appealing to readers. Balint gave Harriet a real strength and plenty of energy. She was always encountering problems and pulling through. Not only did Harriet have to make a life for herself in the theatre, but support her mother and handicapped sister as well. She also had to deal with a bad reputation for being an actress and trying to make a decent marriage. Harriet was overworked and all odds were against her, but she persevered and it paid off for her in the end. On the darker side of things, the book can be considered slightly boring by some. There were points in the story when nothing was going on and nothing was changing, and it was difficult to get through. For example, Harriet stayed in Drury Lane, not getting any more or less popular, for a very long time, hoping to get a break, but still in the shadow of other actresses. "I have spent three years hanging about backstage, waiting for some new opportunity. I wonder whether Fanny Kelly may marry and retire from the stage, allowing me my own attempt at fame. If they would only let me have a season at her roles, I know I would have as much success as she. But how am I to be noticed when I am on the periphery of the company?" says Harriet. Balint did not describe the information of some aspects of Harriet's life that I'd hoped she would. She did not tell what happened to her marriage,