Prospero's Island is a compelling study of islands and how they can contribute to the quality of concern and caring that human beings have for one another, specifically in Christian ministry work. Roger Grainger spent eighteen years as chaplain of a large psychiatric hospital and now works as a parish minister in Wakefield, England. He brings to life the characters from William Shakespeare's final play The Tempest as he utilizes the story of Prospero and Miranda, Ariel and Caliban, and the shipwrecked courtiers and clowns who were forced ashore by a tempest in order to emphasize that pastoral care can be an island for refuge and resources for those who need to come in from the storm. Using the image of an island as a metaphor for the human condition at its most vulnerable state, Grainger illustrates how Prospero demonstrates a particular purpose for his island that results in renewal rather than revenge. Prospero's Island innovatively compares Shakespeare's inspirational characters with real life as it takes an in-depth look at pastoral care as a nurturing process that lives in, and depends upon, the quality of personal relationships just like Prospero did on a deserted island so many years ago.

Presents Prospero's Island discussion by Edward Everett Hale with an introduction by Henry Cabot Lodge.

From a member of the real-life family portrayed in The Durrells in Corfu, this memoir of the idyllic Greek island is “among the best books ever written” (The New York Times). Before Lawrence Durrell became a renowned novelist, poet, and travel writer, he spent four youthful years on Corfu, an island jewel with beauty to match the long and fascinating history within its rocky shores. While his brother, Gerald, was collecting animals as a budding naturalist, Lawrence fished, drank, and lived with the natives in the years leading up to World War II, sheltered from the tumult that was engulfing Europe—until finally he could ignore the world no longer. Durrell left for Alexandria, to serve his country as a wartime diplomat, but never forgot the wonders of Corfu. In this “brilliant” journey through that idyllic time and place, Durrell returns to the land that made him so happy, blending his love of history with memories of his adventures there (The Economist). Like the blue Aegean, Prospero’s Cell is deep and crystal clear, offering a perfect view straight to the heart of a nation.

Critical and historical notes accompany Shakespeare's play about a shipwrecked duke who learns to command the spirits.

Prospero's Island is Rhode Island. Prospero's Cell is the John Dee Tower of 1583. (Which still stands today in Touro Park, Newport, Rhode Island) The characters in The Tempest represent the main players in the Elizabethan colonization effort of the 1580s. (Plus two French humanists and two angels)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The beloved author of The Handmaid’s Tale reimagines Shakespeare’s final, great play, The Tempest, in a gripping and emotionally rich novel of passion and revenge. “A marvel of gorgeous yet economical prose, in the service of a story that’s utterly heartbreaking yet pierced by humor, with a plot that retains considerable subtlety even as the original’s back story falls neatly into place.”—The New York Times Book Review Felix is at the top of his game as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. Now he’s staging aTempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, but it will also heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge, which, after twelve years, arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own. Praise for Hag-Seed “What makes the book thrilling, and hugely pleasurable, is how closely Atwood hews to Shakespeare even as she casts her own potent charms, rap-composition included. . . . Part Shakespeare, part Atwood, Hag-Seed is a most delicate monster—and that’s ‘delicate’ in the 17th-century sense. It’s delightful.”—Boston Globe “Atwood has designed an ingenious doubling of the plot of The Tempest: Felix, the usurped director, finds himself cast by circumstances as a real-life version of Prospero, the usurped Duke. If you know the play well, these echoes grow stronger when Felix decides to exact his revenge by conjuring up a new version of The Tempest designed to overwhelm his enemies.”—Washington Post “A funny and heartwarming tale of revenge and redemption . . . Hag-Seed is a remarkable contribution to the canon.”—Bustle

Set on a Caribbean island in the grip of colonialism, this novel is “masterful . . . simply wonderful . . . [an] exquisite retelling of The Tempest” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). When Peter Gardner’s ruthless medical genius leads him to experiment on his unwitting patients—often at the expense of their lives—he flees England, seeking an environ where his experiments might continue without scrutiny. He arrives with his three-year-old-daughter, Virginia, in Chacachacare, an isolated island off the coast of Trinidad, in the early 1960s. Gardner considers the locals to be nothing more than savages. He assumes ownership of the home of a servant boy named Carlos, seeing in him a suitable subject for his amoral medical work. Nonetheless, he educates the boy alongside Virginia. As Virginia and Carlos come of age together, they form a covert relationship that violates the outdated mores of colonial rule. When Gardner unveils the pair’s relationship and accuses Carlos of a monstrous act, the investigation into the truth is left up to a curt, stonehearted British inspector, whose inquiries bring to light a horrendous secret. At turns epic and intimate, Prospero's Daughter, from American Book Award winner Elizabeth Nunez, uses Shakespeare’s play as a template to address questions of race, class, and power, in the story of an unlikely bond between a boy and a girl of disparate backgrounds on a verdant Caribbean island during the height of tensions between the native population and British colonists. “Gripping and richly imagined . . . a master at pacing and plotting . . . an entirely new story that is inspired by Shakespeare, but not beholden to him.” —The New York Times Book Review “Absorbing . . . [Nunez] writes novels that resound with thunder and fury.” —Essence “A story about the transformative power of love . . . Readers are sure to enjoy the journey.” —Black Issues Book Review (Novel of the Year)

Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and the other Ionian islands are home to one of the finest cuisines of the Mediterranean. The stamping-ground of Captain Corelli and Lawrence Durrell, the Ionians have always held a particular, almost mystical, fascination for visitors, and, for many of the thousands who travel to the region each year, it is the special nature of Ionian cooking that forms an essential and unforgettable part of their experience. The recipes in "Prospero's Kitchen" come mostly from family notebooks handed down through the generations and reflect the cosmopolitan nature of Ionian cuisine. Together, they provide a unique and tantalising taste of the variety of Ionian cuisine. Featuring over 150 easy-to-follow recipes as well as fascinating information on Ionian cooking and customs, beautiful photographs and original illustrations, "Prospero's Kitchen" is an essential kitchen addition for anyone with a passion for the beautiful and lyrical Ionian islands.