TRACY CHEVALIER is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous novels, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which has been translated into 39 languages and made into an Oscar-nominated film. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., she lives in London with her husband and son.
Praise for New Boy:
“What Chevalier has done is recast the play to illuminate the
peculiar trials of our era…a fascinating exercise… provides some
wicked delight. She’s immensely inventive about it all.”
—Washington Post
“Chevalier possesses a great talent for invoking a sense of time
and place in her novels, and this one is no exception. From the
flowered legs of bell-bottom jeans to the smack of double-dutch
ropes on the playground, New Boy captures the spirit of not only
the era, with its casual racism, but the essence of a ‘70s
childhood as well. A masterful and powerful retelling of this
classic story that takes the original to new places.”
—San Francisco Book Review
“The book succeeds in portraying a Shakespearean tragedy’s sense of
growing unease, and culminates in an unnerving and haunting climax
that will take a long time to shake.”
—Bust
“This is an engrossing and ultimately convincing story of its own,
with characters you’ll believe in and a tragic ending worthy of the
Bard.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Chevalier manages to turn this story into a true tragedy…New Boy
will appeal to adult Shakespeare lovers and to young adults who may
only know Shakespeare because of a couple teenage lovers in
Verona.”
—Raleigh News and Observer
“The youth of the characters is played naturalistically and
honestly, yet still manages to elicit much the same pathos that
Othello’s tragic path does. The depth of connection between the
original work and this new one is astonishing; Chevalier builds
parallels within parallels that are both unexpectedly creative and
exquisitely apt… It is clean and clever and emotionally charged,
filled with moments that reflect perfectly the source material
while never straying from the truths of the new setting.”
—The Maine Edge
“Chevalier’s novel does an admirable job of prompting readers to
look backwards, to Shakespeare’s original material, and forward, to
the lessons that 1970s-era school children might still teach us
about the state of race relations in the US today.”
—BookReporter.com
“With breathtaking urgency, Chevalier brings Othello to a 1970s
suburban elementary school outside Washington, D.C., where the
playground is as rife with poisonous intrigue as any monarch’s
court… Chevalier’s brilliantly concentrated and galvanizing
improvisation thoroughly exposes the malignancy and tragedy of
racism, sexism, jealousy, and fear.” —Booklist
“Chevalier smartly uses her narrative as an opportunity to spin a
story commenting on racism in America.”—Publishers Weekly
“Othello as a Seventies schoolyard drama? Yes, it works
marvellously. The emotions of emerging adolescence are a potent
brew, with friendships, rivalries, budding sexuality, and the
desire to fit in combining unflinchingly with the racism of the
teachers (and some of the pupils). This is an evocative retelling
of Shakespeare, and his characters’ interactions and motivations
fit surprisingly well into the brutal world of
childhood.” —Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat
"New Boy not only allows a better understanding of Othello the
play, but also the continuing issues of racism in our society.
Othello forces readers to consider how terrible it must have been
for him to live among such racism in 16th-century Venice.
Chevalier’s retelling brings it home and makes us question if our
society today is really any better." —National Post
Praise for Tracy Chevalier:
"Evokes entire landscapes...a master of voices."
—New York Times Book Review
"Chevalier's signature talent lies in bringing alive the ordinary
day-to-dayness of the past...lovingly evoked."
—Elle
"Absorbing...[Chevalier] creates a world reminiscent of a Vermeer
interior: suspended in a particular moment, it transcends its time
and place."
—The New Yorker
"Chevalier's ringing prose is as radiantly efficient as well-tended
silver."
—Entertainment Weekly
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