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The Tempest
The Tempest
Feb 28, 2026 8:31 AM

Author:William Shakespeare,Martin Butler

The Tempest

'The magic in The Tempest is real ... It contains a great many unanswered questions' Margaret Atwood

A storm rages. Prospero and his daughter watch from their desert island as a ship carrying the royal family is wrecked. Miraculously, all on board survive. Plotting, mistaken identities, bewitching love and enchantment follow as the travellers explore this mysterious place of spirits and monsters, and discover that all is not as it seems. Shakespeare's late, great play is a work filled with marvels, music and strangeness, fully exploiting the power of language and the magic of theatre.

Used and Recommended by the National Theatre

General Editor Stanley Wells

Edited with an Introduction by Martin Butler

Reviews

Escapism that will make you giggle out loud

—— USA Today

[Becky] is funny, chaotic, kind and - as usual - you'll be rooting for her from the off. The brilliantly plotted narrative whizzes along at a delicious pace, stuffed full of gags and sparkling dialogue.

—— Daily Mail

Frothy, fast-paced fun.

—— Glamour

Another delightful page-turner from the author of the best-selling Shopaholic series.

—— Closer

Fans of Sophie Kinsella will love this effervescent story.

—— Sunday Express

Only Emily Brontë exposes her imagination to the dark spirit

—— V. S. Pritchett

Hers...is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts...by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar

—— Virginia Woolf

Commonly thought of as 'romantic', but try rereading it without being astonished by the comfortableness with which Brontë's characters subject one another to extremes of physical and psychological violence

—— Sarah Waters

Lambasted when it came out as irredeemably perverse and, I quote, as practically "French"'

—— A. L. Kennedy

The greatest love story ever told, Heathcliff the hero being a wild, stormy, gothic fellow who will not rest until his beloved Cathy is in his arms again, even though she died some years previously. My favourite moment comes when he bribes the sexton who buried Cathy to bury him next to her, with the sides of their coffins left open, so when they're dug up 50 years hence nobody will know which bones are his, and which are hers

—— Patrick McGrath
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