Foul Lady Fortune

Foul Lady Fortune (2022) is the third novel by author Chloe Gong, all of whose books draw heavily from Shakespeare’s plays. The central characters in her first two novels, Roma and Juliette, represent modern-day versions of Romeo and Juliet. The novels’ titles are borrowed quotes from the same play.

Similarly, Foul Lady Fortune is loosely based on As You Like It, and the novel depicts the characters Rosalind and Orlando as Rosalind and Orion. The book’s title, too, is inspired by Shakespeare’s comedy, in which the character Jacques says, “As I do live by food, I met a fool / Who laid him down and basked him in the sun / And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms.” The quote implies—as does this novel’s title—that Fortune has dealt foully with the fool.

Foul Lady Fortune is a sequel to Gong’s Romeo and Juliet duology, These Violent Delights (2020) and Our Violent Ends (2021), which earned the author the status of #1 New York Times bestselling author. Like her central characters, the author comes from a cosmopolitan background. She was born in Shanghai, grew up in New Zealand, was educated in America, and now lives in New York. However, Gong doesn’t speak quite as many languages as Rosalind and Orion do.