Hearts on the Table / Susan Metallo / Book Review

HEARTS ON THE TABLE

Violet Cesari is a girl who knows her mind. She'd rather be organizing with the suffragists than sitting at home working on her embroidery. She'd rather be thrashing men at the cards table than courting whatever lord her father has picked for her. And she'd rather her transgender twin Seb live the life he deserves than whatever life their father dictates for the both of them. Even if that means fleeing their father's oppressive household together in the middle of the night.

England might be their father's home, but Italy has always been the twins' safe haven. And that's where they're headed now that their father's house is no longer home. The only problem? There's a bit of a war on... and the passenger ship that was meant to bring them to Italy has been struck by a U-boat instead.

When Violet washes ashore on a nearby island, she's only certain of two things: her twin is still alive, and it's safer for her to pretend to be him. After all, there's no Violet without Sebastian. And alone on a strange (and enemy) island, it's just better to be disguised as a man. Violet's rescued from the seaside by a melancholy pacifist named Teo, the island's richest landowner, and to earn money for her (new) passage to Italy, Violet takes up a job as his errand boy, delivering lovesick poetry to the beautiful, fair, and definitely-not-interested Olivia. And when Olivia takes interest in the handsome new delivery boy Teo has employed, well...

THOUGHTS

I liked this book. A lot. But I didn't love it like I expected. It's definitely Twelfth Night. It has all the elements, but it doesn't quite have the whimsy. It's a darker take, a harder reality than Shakespeare's classic. And I don't think that's wrong. But it's a different tone than I was expecting, and I think that's worth mentioning.

PROS

Faustina	What an absolute gem! I loved Faustina. I loved her character, her strong-willed nature and determination to live her life. I loved her confidence in herself, and I loved that her chapters are written in poetry to mimic the vastly different way she experiences and dissects the world around her. That was wonderfully creative and evocative. I love the element her characters adds to this plot, too, by highlighting neurodivergent and disability representation in historical fiction. That's hard to find, and it's hard to find with such nuance and heart behind it. It was wholly unexpected heading into this book. But I adored it, and on Faustina's merit alone, I could confidently recommend this book to any history buff or Shakespeare superfan.
Queer Life	It's hard to find a book that's so rooted in its historical moment and so happily embracing of a myriad of queer experiences. And this book is both of those. It doesn't read modern sensibilities onto it's old-fashioned characters. They're not characters who have been plucked from 2026 and sent back 100+ years ago. They're definitely of their time, with the limited or different vocabulary that this historical context encompasses, but they're also unabashedly queer. As they should be. This is a Twelfth Night retelling, after all. And I loved how nuanced and strange and surprising and comforting all the facets of queer life and self-realization and self-actualization in this book are, coming in unexpected layers and joyful triumphs (while acknowledging that 1915 is not, perhaps, the best time to be a part of this community. But it also isn't the worst).
Shocking Transformation	I won't spoil this book, so I won't tell you how Susan Metallo twists the source material here. That would ruin the twist, wouldn't it? Though it's not so much a twist as it is an abrupt change in tone and flavor from the original. What's one of the funniest scenes in Shakespeare's work is one of the most rattling scenes in this book, where it's not played for laughs. It's harsher, darker, and more chilling in Metallo's rendition. And that twist in tone, well, it was masterfully done.

CONS

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's most raucous comedies. It's particularly high-energy and full of life, and that means it has seen more adaptations than most of his works (which is saying something, given how ubiquitous his canon is). It's also a piece of Shakespeare that is, in my personal opinion, the hardest to find a good adaptation of, unfortunately. A lot of twists on the source material detract rather than add. That's not the case here. Susan Metallo uses this source material very, very well. But there is one thing that's missing, and it is levity. While I loved this book in its current form, I do think I was a bit disappointed to find it so, well, dark in parts. So hard to read. And other fans of Twelfth Night might just agree. The flavor's not quite the same, and so it might not be to everyone's liking.	Lightless
This isn't the kind of book you can rush through, for the reasons mentioned above. It's the type of book where you have to take your time to digest it properly. And without the energy of its source material, it can drag a bit at times. So bear that in mind.	Take Your Time
I know that's the (anciently) historical name, and I know that's what Shakespeare calls it. But that's not what we're calling this region by WW1. It doesn't sound like an island that should be existing during WW1. In fact, every time they said it in the book, it plucked me right out of this narrative and tossed me back into the straight source material. And that was a little, well, goofy for a book that isn't so goofy.	Illyria

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Fans of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night will love finding a competent translation of the work into a new time and place. Those who liked exploring life on the front lines of the Great War in Amanda McCrina's Beyond Seven Forests will like digging into a contentious island of messy national origins right on the cusp of war.

Details Publisher: Candlewick Date: September 22, 2026 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.