PRESS & PRAISE
for
BOTANICAL SHAKESPEARE!
BOTANICAL SHAKESPEARE by Gerit Quealy! Lushly illustrated & meticulously researched. A thoroughly enchanting must-have for any #Shakespeare or nature lover!
Francine Segan
Author of Shakespeare's Kitchen, The Opera Lover's Cookbook & more
I am hoping that someone will be wrapping up a copy of BOTANICAL SHAKESPEARE: AN ILLUSTRATED COMPENDIUM(Harper Design) for me. It promises to detail and illuminate each plant mentioned by Shakespeare, which is an altogether irresistible proposition.
Maggie O'Farrell
Author of The Hand That First Held Mine
We've never had a launch with so many fresh flowers, performances and even prizes. The store was packed and the book sold like hotcakes! It was a delightfully fun experience hosting a Botanical Shakespeare talk.
Helene Golay
Owner, The Corner Bookstore, NYC
You have such a remarkable store of knowledge which comes out so fluently. You were a treat to hear!
Sally Mosher
Author, People & Their Contexts: A Chronology of the 16th Century World
I wanted to tell you how much joy your book, Botanical Shakespeare, has brought me and my family. I gave a copy as a gift to my niece Austen, who crowned her college theatrical career at the University of Mary Washington by playing Lady Macbeth this spring. She was thrilled with your tome. And, of course, I bought a copy of the book for myself. It is a beautiful and inspiring work of literature and art.
William Weathersby
...a tool, now in my collection of tools, that I will return to often.
Keith Hamilton Cobb
Playwright/performer
...your elegant book! It is so interesting and fun just to browse.
Professor Steven W. May
Author & Senior Research Fellow, University of Sheffield
This is a charming and eccentric book that shows us the flowers, fruits, herbs and trees as they are shown in the words of Shakespeare's plays. But what fun to look through the beautiful illustrations and read about the Bard's botanical side. It's even inspired me to plant a thing or two in my own garden. If I had a garden. Kudos to Ms. Quealy and Ms. Hasegawa-Collins.
Christopher Durang
TONY-winning playwright
The book is beautiful. What a gorgeous labor of love.
Mia Dillon
Actress
Your book, so elegant. How many ways can it be praised? A sonnet would come up short I'm sure. For one, the very dimensions set it apart, rather more than any run-o-the-mill quarto. Then the illustrations unfold with their own grace and the texts: lets them assume presence each in its own way flowering, not all reduced to blocs. Your wit then as you introduce the project entices & diverts. You accomplish a great deal more with less, giving credit where some savant has shown the way, yet never anchored or chained to notes, giving Gerard his due. Your dispatch on caraway/apple convinces & intrigues. You demonstrate your learning lightly & whet appetite for more. All in all, marvellous. And funny!
Professor John Van Sickle
Classics, Brooklyn College
This book is Beyond My Wildest Dreams! Absolutely fantastic in every way...
Suzanne O’Brien
I just recently had finished your book and loved it, it's really beautiful and it was very helpful for me as an actor to be able to really know what the plants I was talking about actually looked like!
Paul Sugarman
Instant Shakespeare Co.
What a fantastic book, your Botanical Shakespeare! You 'jump into experience' and have become one of my favorite Teachers, Gerit.
Dr. Earl Showerman
Just returned home from my travels to my Botanical Shakespeare! So proud of your huge success and this book representing and referencing all that is beautiful in the world.
Pam Sherman
I received in the mail today, my copy of “Botanical Shakespeare”. It’s elegant and meticulous, impeccably researched, and gracefully illustrated .... The foreword by Helen Mirren (who is a heroine for her talent, grace and spirit, for every woman over a certain age) is personal and engaging. Everyone should have this in their library – plus it’s a great gift.
Lynn Morris
I don't know where to start: first of all your scholarship and clear focus on Nature as the great god that it is: inspiration for poets, philosophers, musicians, et al. Well done there. And the quotes from Shakespeare are an invitation to read all those plays and poems. I have been wanting to do nightly readings with my boyfriend during quiet evenings at his home, and this might just tip the balance in its favor! Then your choice of artist, who captures a certain innocence in these plants and flowers, their soul, perhaps. I even like the choice of typeface!
Randa Kirshbaum
Cellist & concert organizer
...And praise for the companion and Kindle version!
Thank you very, very much for the wonderful Botanical Shakespeare Companion! I’m so happy to have it. It’s beautiful and also very useful. I recently watched the National Theatre’s production of MSND on YouTube, and it was fantastic to be able to find in the Companion a list of all of the many botanical references in the play. I know I'll be looking things up in it often.
The content of the Botanical Shakespeare book is fantastic. I would also like to compliment you and your team on the wonderful formatting in the Kindle version. I love how the text is laid out. It’s clear and attractive and so pleasant to read. (Sadly, that’s not always, or even often, the case with Shakespeare texts on Kindle.) And the amazing illustrations look really good, too; it’s great that they can be enlarged without losing any of their sharpness.
