Prologue

For the well-to-do Malone cousins, reputation is everything. For the elder cousin, Clara, her reputation is staked to her swift tongue and clever mind. The younger, Ophelia, is a gentle and pure young lady born into a wealthy society, dreaming of the day when she will marry the man of her dreams. Clara is much the opposite, having sworn off love after many a failed attempt. Only when a group of familiar faces blows into town and stays under the same roof do the Malones find themselves in uncharted territory. In this retelling of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, we find the Bard's classic characters thrown into the chaotic world of the American 1920s, complete with lovable gangsters, roaring parties, and the ever-high stakes of romance and all it carries with it.