In this 1920s-era retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, young Benedick Scott has decided once and for all to leave Stony Creek Academy, defying his father, to pursue his dream to be a writer. While making one last climb out of his dorm room window, he is discovered and then joined by his aristocratic, British classmate, Claude, who decides to latch on to Benedick's adventure. Then there's Beatrice, who's kicked out of a home for wayward girls and picked up by her cousin, Hero, who drives her to her uncle Leo's estate on Long Island. Beatrice quickly learns that Uncle Leo's mansion doubles as the Hey Nonny Nonny speak-easy by night, run by Hero and her merry band of teens. Also living at Hey Nonny Nonny is Maggie, the black singer whose voice draws the upper-crust crowd the speak-easy needs to stay in business. (The other principals are white.) Naturally, romance blossoms between Beatrice and Benedick, with the help of a few friends. This 400-plus-page retelling will likely disappoint readers who haven't encountered the original. As a stand-alone plot, it loses steam over its length, and placing teenage characters in the very adult positions of running a speak-easy and acquiring illegal booze stretches credulity. The characters feel out of place and never fully come to life in this 1920s time period. Ambitious but a miss. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

Prohibition is in full swing when strong-willed 17-year-old Beatrice is kicked out of boarding school and sent to Hey Nonny Nonny, the Long Island estate belonging to her uncle and cousin. That cousin, charming and flirtatious Hero, runs a speakeasy out of the basement, filled with people as close as family. But the speakeasy is struggling, and it won't be long until they have to find other work. Then there's the matter of Benedick, a boy who wants to abandon wealth and become a writer 's also the most infuriating person Beatrice has ever met. While they spar, Hero and her friends plot to push the two of them together, and maybe save the speakeasy, too. The vibrant, dangerous atmosphere of a Roaring Twenties speakeasy is clever setting for this debut, a reimagining of Much Ado about Nothing. The story never strays far from those Shakespearean roots and bogs down in places because of it, but for fans of an enemies-to-lovers romance, this biting comedy is always a classic.

Beatrice longs to study medicine; Benedick imagines himself a writer. Hero wants to protect her father, and Claude just wants Hero. Shakespeare fans will recognize these characters from Much Ado About Nothing, but George sets their romantic frustrations amid a foundering speakeasy. A carefully crafted retelling dedicated to both capturing the nuances of Shakespeare's play and creating an accurate Prohibition-era setting. Author's note. Bib.

George’s debut novel is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing set in 1920s, Prohibition-era Long Island. Seventeen-year-old Beatrice Clark is kicked out of boarding school and sent to live with her uncle and cousin, Hero, at their estate on Long Island. Named Hey Nonny Nonny, this estate is more that what meets the eye. Late at night and on weekends, it is transformed into a speak-easy where jazz acts sing, patrons dance, and the illegal liquor flows freely. The bootlegging business is running dry, however, and poor but tenacious Prince is determined to find a way around his brother, John Morello, and the rest of the Italians so that he can become the ultimate supplier to the bar. Boarding at the estate alongside Prince and Beatrice is the trust-fund enabled Benedick who has left school against his father’s wishes to become a writer. Once their paths cross, the witty banter between Beatrice and Benedick is deliciously enjoyable, and the modernized cast of characters is so colorful that the entire novel seems to do the Charleston right off of the pages. If readers’ interests are piqued by this Prohibition-era retelling full of stories of Italian gangsters, the Cotton Club, jazz music, and speakeasys, George has done her research: she includes an author’s note full of information about the nonfiction elements of the story and what was aggrandized for the novel. This is sure to delight fans of Anna Godberson’s Bright Young Things (HarperCollins, 2010) and Shakespeare’s writings alike, leaving a taste for much more of the Roaring Twenties and much more from George.—Stephanie Wilkes.