Hag-Seed is a 2016 novel by the prolific novelist Margaret Atwood and is the seventh book in Hogarth's "Hogarth Shakespeare" series. Like the other novels of the series, it is a standalone retelling of one of Shakespeare's classics.
In Hag-Seed, Atwood views Shakespeare's The Tempest through a modern lens, telling a story of revenge and hatred cloaked in a shroud of fantasy. Atwood tells the story by following the life of Felix, an artistic director who seeks revenge when his production of The Tempest is canceled by the company he worked for; in doing so, she masterfully parallels the story of Felix with the original story of The Tempest.
The novel was well received by critics and was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction for Longlist, though it ultimately did not win. The novel is a psychological thriller and is preceded by Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
