Vinegar Girl

Cover image and summary from Goodreads:

Pulitzer Prize winner and American master Anne Tyler brings us an inspired, witty and irresistible contemporary take on one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies

Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner.

Dr. Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There’s only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost.

When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he’s really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?

I’m one of those people who only knows the story of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew from countless viewings of 10 Things I Hate About You in my youth. I’m certainly not well-versed in Shakespeare.

Vinegar Girl is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, which is a series of Shakespeare’s plays re-imagined by various authors. Other authors in this series are Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood, and Howard Jacobson.

I quite enjoyed reading this! It was a fun, quirky, quick read, and now I’m really interested in checking out the rest of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. Recommended!