The Prince of Denmark

Book excerpt: This fictional re-writing of the Hamlet story is set in a time somewhere between the Scandinavian Dark Ages (out of which the tale of Hamlet came), and the Renaissance society of Shakespeare's play. The novel searches past and future, in T.S. Eliot phrase, looking before and after. Beginning at the end of Shakespeare's play, where the Norweigian prince Fortinbras takes over the empty throne of Denmark, its then backtracks to the year of Hamlet's birth, and the great duel fought between his father King Amled and Fortinbras' father Prince Fortenbrasse. in the light of this history, as a new ruler takes over Denmark after Hamlet's death, the conflicts and alliances between ancient Viking chivalry, Renaissance realpolitik and Christian forgiveness are dramatically explored.