The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare

Sophie Masson (author)

Hodder Children's Books, UK: 2003; 288pp

ISBN: 0340865814

Note: extension vocabulary

Genres: adventure,fantasy, romance

Issues: identity

The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare is the story of a self-important yet naïve young man, a distant cousin to William, who is certain that he is destined for greater things than completing his apprenticeship as a wheelwright.

Determined to seek his fortune and make a name for himself, he leaves behind the dramas he loves to watch being performed at the Globe Theatre, and ships out with a notorious buccaneer. William Wolfe, captain of the Golden Dragon, is following his own dream, searching for the mysterious ‘Lost Island', home of the Lord of Alchemists, where all dreams can come true.

Convinced as he is of his unique value, it does not occur to innocent, inexperienced, unskilled Hopewell to wonder what use he might be on such a venture. Yet after literally bumping into him on the street, Wolfe assures him within minutes that he cannot succeed without Hopewell's assistance. Full of his own importance, Hopewell is somewhat offended to find that he is still required to associate with the general crew, where his fancy language and supercilious attitude soon isolate him from his shipmates, especially the evil-looking Welshman, Davy Jones, and the ship's boy, Kit Sly. Is there really a ‘Lost Island', as they seem to believe? Or is it a philosopher's dream? A great storm soon catches the Golden Dragon and leaves its crew fighting to survive. Hopewell and a few others are cast ashore into an idyllic landscape - but is all as it seems, or is this, too, a dream? Hopewell must find his way out of the play and into reality if he is to survive and save those he loves.

Sophie Masson is a well-regarded Australian writer who specialises in writing novels based on familiar fairystories, myths and legends. The result, usually, is beautifully crafted narratives with complex, intriguing characters. The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare is of a similar style, incorporating as it does similar themes and characters to two of Shakespeare's best-loved plays, The Tempest and Twelfth Night. The result is a mixture of romance, adventure, melodrama, humour, mystery, and magic.

Unfortunately the language that works so beautifully in Shakespeare's plays does not resonate in the same way in a modern narrative, although that is partly the point. The dominant narrative perspective is Hopewell's, and is therefore cast in the high poetic style that he has copied from his cousin's plays. His tendency to see everything in terms of the role of characters in a play is a great part of his innocence - and gullibility. On stage villains are evil-looking, heroes are handsome, princesses are beautiful, and language is everything. It does not seem to occur to him that real life might be more complicated. While this can be amusing, Hopewell's self-absorbed character - and narrative perspective - does at times become rather irritating, to the point where it interferes with the reader's involvement in the story.

Despite that, however, the novel has many of the elements of adventure and comical confusion that make Shakespeare's lighter plays so appealing, and will therefore appeal to younger readers who have an extensive vocabulary and lively imaginations.