When I was visiting the Kronborg Castle, Hamlet costumed actors roamed the courtyard greeting the visitors, performed lines from the play, and “lived” in the rooms of the castle. It was amusing and entertaining enough to entice me to buy this book. After reading it, I am a bit surprised that it wasn’t the Shakespeare portion that was most interesting.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part covers the history of the area before the construction of the castle in the 1300’s and the monarchs at the time – rather impressed with the industrious, intelligent, and shrewd Queen Margrete. This part ended in the late 1500’s when Elsinore is still basking in its maritime might collecting Sound Dues from passing ships under the reign of Frederik II and his son Christian IV. The second part compared Shakespeare’s Elsinore with what is known about the area, the castle itself, Danish customs, and even the plants. Spoiler Alert: They don’t know if Shakespeare visited or was it hearsay only. The third part mapped the end of the Danish military power – the final dissolution of the kingdom forfeiting land and islands to multiple neighboring countries, the remaining naval fleet won by England, and the end of the Sound Dues after protest from the U.S.A.

While all good things must come to an end, Elsinore, despite the silenced guns of the magnificent castle with contents pilfered by the Swedes, it’s certainly rebirthed itself into a vibrant town today. Reading through the history of this area proved to be much more interesting than Hamlet. Sorry Shakespeare. ( )