Shakespeare professor and prison volunteer Laura Bates thought she had seen it all. That is, until she decided to teach Shakespeare in a place the bard had never been before—supermax solitary confinement. In this unwelcoming place, surrounded by inmates known as the worst of the worst, is Larry Newton. A convicted murderer with several escape attempts under his belt and a brilliantly agile mind on his shoulders, Larry was trying to break out of prison at the same time Laura was fighting to get her program started behind bars.
Thus begins the most unlikely of friendships, one bonded by Shakespeare and lasting years—a friendship that, in the end, would save more than one life.
Download and start listening now!
“Opening the mind’s prison proves enormously gratifying, not to mention effective, for Bates as she offers the prisoners an alternative to frustrated violence.”
— Publishers Weekly
Macbeth and Hamlet are the primary targets of examination, but the inmates take fresh approaches to several plays.
— Booklist“Macbeth and Hamlet are the primary targets of examination, but the inmates take fresh approaches to several plays.”
— Booklist“An eye-opening study reiterating the perennial power of books, self-discipline, and the Bard of Avon.”
— Kirkus ReviewsDr. Laura Bates is an English professor at Indiana State University, where she has taught courses on Shakespeare for the past fifteen years to students on campus and in prison. She has a PhD from the University of Chicago with a focus on Shakespeare studies. Her work has been featured in national media, including MSNBC’s Lock Up. She lives in Indiana.
Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration. She was been named a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine and in 2018 was inducted in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame.