Blue Mountain Rose: A Novel in Five Acts

by Julie Hammonds

This clever novel ... should become a book club favorite. –BlueInk Starred Review

A love letter to theatre ... a fantastic escape! –Austin Tichenor, Reduced Shakespeare Company

You're invited to attend opening night at the 2009 Blue Mountain Rose production of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

Richard James Aloysius Keane is a lion of the theater—and a weary man. His outdoor Elizabethan stage, the Blue Mountain Rose, lures theatergoers from around the world with its memorable productions. But after 40 years of service in all weathers, this grand "wooden O" in the Arizona mountains is showing its age. Tossed about by the financial storms of 2009, how will the Rose survive?

Company manager Kate Morales believes in this dream of a great theater in a small town. Richard says he might close down the Rose and retire, but Kate just can't say goodbye. She has been Richard's loyal understudy for a decade. Is she ready to step into the leading role?

When the unknown actor Peter Dunmore catches their attention with a star-worthy audition, Richard and Kate sense an opportunity. Maybe this "cross between Sir John Gielgud and the young Ken Branagh" can attract a new generation of fans with his powerful Hamlet. But Peter is haunted by a secret sorrow that could bring an end to all their dreams.

As they try to save the Rose, Richard, Kate, and Peter must ask themselves questions worthy of a Shakespeare play. What does it mean to belong to a family? Who do we mourn, and why? And what does it cost to wear a crown? 

Genres: Theatre, Fiction

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 23, 2025

About the author

Julie Hammonds fell in love with "Hamlet" during a high school trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has nurtured her passion for Shakespeare ever since. She studied the plays in school, stage-managed "The Winter’s Tale" and "Much Ado About Nothing," and helped create the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival. Her quest to complete the canon as an audience member has taken her from a community hall in Juneau, Alaska, to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. She has four plays to go.

Reviews

[Staci Whitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book with endearing characters and cleverly written with Shakespearean story themes woven throughout. Blue Mountain Rose embraces emotions such as love, loss, grief and happiness with sincerity & grace. I loved it!

[Halima Aquino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Mountain Rose is a tale for lovers of acting, actors, Shakespeare and love. It's perfect for me. Do I like or love tragedy or comedy more? Guh. I like it all and this book has it in spades. While reading this novel, I was immediately drawn into the mind of a young man who is Hamlet, in life and at work in rehearsals and on stage in Flagstaff, Arizona. The actor is as dashing, self-absorbed and psychologically haunted as the character he plays. Of course, he is utterly engaging, even (or especially?) when he's tormented by ghosts and memories. If you don't fall in love with him, then you may become him, as the author of Blue Mountain Rose, Julie Hammonds intended. How does she channel this young man's feelings so well? I don't know but she leads us down this path with a lot of visual detail and empathy. I easily forgot the author was a woman. Hamlet's actor lives in his own fantasy world and I willingly sat like a Greek muse on his shoulder...It was fun to go there. Some of what he thinks and feels is real or imagined but the mystery that surrounds him becomes our own story to absorb, as Shakespeare intended in his original play. Do you already know the soliloquies in this play? They come up as parts of this clever book about a modern British actor - who performs this part of his life in "Acts". And if you are like me- you'll read the Shakespeare bits aloud, in a corner of your home, where only your bookshelves and dog can hear you.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful ode to Shakespeare

I won this book from Goodreads and I am so glad I did. I'm not sure if I would have read this otherwise. The book tackles many difficult topics. The story revolves around the staging of Hamlet but first it delves into the cost of fame and what an actor gives up when thrust into the limelight. Grief and grieving and what that means in different relationships is explored in depth. What it means to be a family, forgiveness and letting go and discovering what is really important. The book made me think on these topics. The book is well written and the dialogue revolves around Shakespeare even when characters are talking amongst themselves.

[Mary Mohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book because of the Shakespeare angle; however, I found it to be delightful, with meaningful dynamics. I also enjoyed knowing the many places that were mentioned in the story, I.e., Observatory Mesa, and many others. Julie did herself proud on her first book.

[Jenelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written novel that feels much like being engaged as an audience member at a theatre performance while reading. The characters were so thoughtfully developed. I genuinely cared about what happened to the characters and shared their joy and their tears. Well worth the read!

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a Shakespeare actor, and this book kept me company during the many lulls in rehearsals, or backstage while waiting to go on, in a summer-stock production of King Lear. I found it a very companionable book that displays the author's love of theatre on every page.

If you're in the business, you might've noticed how few novels there are that take a serious interest in ALL of the elements of theatre-making, which sets Blue Mountain Rose apart as a welcome examination of a little-excavated craft. There are certainly authors who've recognized the backstage and rehearsal room as a milieu full of large personalities and outsized drama to backdrop their relationship-studies and murder mysteries. But it's a rare novel indeed that turns the spotlight on the actor's process––the development of a role, the psychology of interpreting a character, the strange combination of studied technique and perilous vulnerability that characterizes a great stage actor.

Few actors are either able or willing to talk about what they're doing when they construct an embodiment of another person out of their own clay. Hammonds has done an impressive job of peering into that process, and giving the reader a window into a profession where much of the work that defines the greatest practitioners is internal and invisible. And she's done it within a vividly-realized world and a compelling, quick-moving narrative that will satisfy anyone with a curiosity about the world just beyond the stage's edge, whether a theatre-practitioner or a theatre-aficionado, or anyone who ever wondered what goes on under-the-hood of a professional-level theatre production.

[Anna Wiley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Largely forgettable, to be honest. Not poorly written, but not well written, either. I had high hopes for this one going in, but it turned out to be a fluffy romance trying to disguise itself as something more serious, and not sure on the whole exactly what it wanted to be. I will say to the author's credit that she is both knowledgeable about Shakespeare and about the theatrical profession, but knowledge doesn't necessarily translate to a good story. I cared just enough to finish reading and find out what happened, though it turned out to be very predictable. Not one I'd be likely to pick up again. I think my biggest complaint is that for a novel that dealt so much with grief, it tied everything up far too neatly in the end.

[David Carriere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Mountain Rose: A Novel in Five Acts is an elegant, warm spirited tribute to the world of theatre its passions, its sacrifices, and the fragile dreams that hold companies together. Julie Hammonds crafts her story with the structure of a play, giving readers the sense of sitting backstage on opening night as lives, ambitions, and heartbreaks intertwine.

Richard Keane is a magnetic figure, a brilliant yet weary artistic leader watching his beloved Elizabethan stage buckle under age and economic strain. Opposite him stands Kate Morales, whose steadfast loyalty and quiet courage make her as compelling as any Shakespearean heroine. Their dynamic half mentor, half family grounds the novel with emotional depth. Enter Peter Dunmore, the gifted, haunted newcomer whose Hamlet promises renewal even as his hidden grief threatens to unwind everything.

Hammonds blends theatrical lore, backstage camaraderie, and human vulnerability into a narrative that feels both intimate and sweeping. It is a story about legacy, loss, and the price of carrying a crown onstage or off. Theater lovers, book clubs, and readers drawn to character driven fiction will find this novel irresistible.

[Linda Sutera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will say this without hesitation: I loved Julie Hammonds's novel "Blue Mountain Rose." As a theatre person (patron, actor, director, volunteer), I appreciated all the “behind the scenes” moments. And as a longtime resident of Flagstaff, I enjoyed the setting and reading about the various places that are so familiar. I loved the characters Julie created, and I was sad to say good-bye to these people. I want to know more about all the main characters and see how their relationships develop, so I hope there will be at least one sequel if not a whole series. I can imagine how the novels could progress through many more Shakespeare plays with all the various actors that come to town to work at the beautiful Blue Mountain Rose.

[Eleanor Pilcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Mountain Rose is a moving, theatre soaked novel that beautifully captures the magic and fragility of a beloved stage on the brink of collapse. Julie Hammonds crafts memorable characters, Richard, the weary lion; Kate, the steadfast believer; and Peter, the brilliant, broken newcomer. The 2009 financial backdrop adds urgency, while the Shakespearean undertones give the story resonance and depth. Heartfelt, clever, and deeply atmospheric, this is a standout literary tribute to creativity, family, and the power of performance.

[Judy Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never understood Shakespeare and did not believe I would be able to connect to the plot of "Blue Mountain Rose," but the author guided the reader into that world in clever and interesting ways with compelling characters that I wanted to hang out with for a long time. This book is a delightful tour through a modern-day Shakespearean theater AND I am now interested in seeing some plays as a side effect of reading it! Well done!

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever been to Flagstaff, Arizona, you will find yourself becoming the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme every few pages, like I was. It's so fun to go "oh, the Museum Club!" "Oh wow, Circus Bacchus!" "The San Francisco Peaks!"

This is truly a love letter to a place and a passion!

[Kim Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the characters and the explorations of love, grief, and new beginnings. The theater backdrop set in Flagstaff is a fun plot of the inner workings of summer Shakespeare plus local details.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5