Hamlet's Dresser

The true story of a boy whose life was saved by literature, Hamlet's Dresser is a portrait of a person made whole by art.

Bob Smith's childhood was a fragile and lonely one, spent largely caring for his handicapped sister, Carolyn. But at age ten, his local librarian gave him a copy of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and it transformed him.

'There may be dozens of memoirs pouring from the presses these days but nothing, absolutely nothing, like Mr Smith's book. Old Shakespeare himself must be crowing with delight and handing Hamlet's Dresser to the saints and angels' Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes