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Heart Of Marble
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781505556346
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: Dec 13 2014
Pages: 166
Weight: 0.51
Height: 0.35 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
HEART OF MARBLE RE-IMAGINES SHAKESPEARE'S KING LEAR AS A GRIPPING
ADVENTURE IN BRITISH BURMA S. Barrow Wilson brings Shakespeare's timeless themes of family, betrayal, love and empathy to a fast moving story set at the dawn of World War I.
New York, NY, August 9, 2026 - Author S. Barrow Wilson brings the enduring themes of Shakespeare into a dramatically different historical setting with Heart of Marble, a modern adaptation of King Lear unfolding in British Burma in 1914.
As international tensions gather, the aging Lord Lear prepares to retire after building an expansive tea plantation. Determined to preserve the privileges of his rank, he divides his estate between two of his three daughters, setting in motion a family struggle shaped by ambition, abandonment, loyalty, and the consequences of choices made in haste.
Lord Lear soon discovers that the two daughters who receive his property have plans of their own. They intend to leave Burma for the security and comforts of London, leaving their aging father increasingly vulnerable in a land both isolated and unforgiving. His youngest daughter however, remains emotionally bound to the plantation where she was born and raised. Breaking her exile to French Indochina, she returns to protect him. What begins with a barred door intensifies as Lear's defiance collides with escalating cruelty, turning a conflict over family obligations into a dangerous struggle for survival.
Wilson wrote Heart of Marble from a conviction that Shakespeare's timeless themes deserve to reach contemporary readers, including those who might otherwise avoid the classics. Rather than relying on fantasy or supernatural devices, he relocates the emotional architecture of King Lear into the wilds of British Burma and transforms the tragedy into an action driven historical adventure. Familial love, desperation, betrayal, and mortality remain at its center, but the new setting and faster narrative approach provide another way to encounter questions that have endured for centuries.
Among the ideas driving Heart of Marble is Wilson's belief that human empathy is among life's most important qualities. That principle becomes particularly powerful as family loyalties fracture and Lear confronts the consequences of pride, age, and dependence. The novel's conclusion carries the conflict into its most spiritual territory, with Lord Lear glimpsing heaven in his final moments, while his tormentor sees hell. Through these contrasting visions, Wilson brings questions of compassion, cruelty, consequence, and mortality to the foreground while maintaining the momentum of an adventure story.
By transporting a classic tragedy to British Burma at the onset of World War I, Wilson preserves its central concerns while giving them a different landscape, pace, and dramatic energy. The result is a story about family, and the human capacity for both tenderness and savagery. A modern audience is invited to rediscover the enduring power of human empathy.
The book is now available - secure your copy here. For review copies, interview requests, or additional information, please contact:
S. Barrow Wilson
Email: fiftyfoot1@gmail.com
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