Get ready to order ahead a middle-grade-and-up book (out on February 18) that casts a realistic look at the dynamics when an addiction problem piles on top of other family issues. Kerry Madden-Lunsford’s new book Werewolf Hamlet takes the reader there.
Picture a rather nerdy 10-year-old Angus, obsessed with Hamlet, who goes around spouting Shakespearean curses to the detriment of his standing among his more regular schoolmates. Add a family financial struggle that becomes a personification of “four closers.” Throw in a distant older sister Hannah who is ready to leave the trauma and move to Maine, and you still haven’t gotten to the main difficulty. While that problem might commonly be phrased as “Angus’s 17-year-old brother Liam is struggling with addiction.” The truth is that Angus seems to be the one struggling while Liam makes promises he doesn’t keep and wheedles Angus to loan him money and cover for him when he is not where he is supposed to be. Angus sees the brother, whom he has looked up to and bonded with in the past, becoming like a werewolf. In the harsh reality, the problem belongs to each member of the family with each of them responding in their own manner.
In the midst of this home crisis, life goes on. Angus finds himself in the usual middle school chaos looking for identity and status as he jostles with the “in” group to promote his original play, “Werewolf Hamlet”, as his fifth grade legacy project. The realism has the reader waffling between seeking to warn Angus not to be taken in by Liam’s false promises, laughing at snippets about the “four closers,” hurting with the family struggles, and caring about each member of the family. The story line is interspersed with remembered conversations between Liam and Angus.
In case you would like to know the rest of the story and how Kerry Madden-Lunsford was able to draw such a lifelike picture of what addiction does to a family, Elizabeth Dulemba has a wonderful author interview on her website at www.dulemba.blogspot.com, giving the personal author background that brought Kerry to write this story – the hard parts, the nostalgic parts, and the funny parts. Check the section marked “Book Blogs and Interviews” and scroll down to find Werewolf Hamlet.
I was able to read this book in an ARC furnished by Net Galley. I am already seeing other rave reviews from people who were able to read it pre-publication. It will be out February 18 so you can preorder now for quick delivery.