本書是英文原版小說，這部小說是莎士比亞後期的喜劇作品，這部劇情復雜的作品主要敘述嫉妒成性的專制君主利翁提斯懷疑他的女兒是私生女，狠心將還在襁褓中的女兒棄之門外，他的妻子荷美溫妮在悲傷中死去，從此利翁提斯過著懊悔與悲傷的日子。牧羊人收養了利翁提斯拋棄的女兒，此女長大後經過重重波折終於回到利翁提斯身邊，哀慟死去的王後荷美溫妮其實也是假死，*後一家人團圓以喜劇收場。

The Winter"s Tale is a multi-faceted romance that stands alongside The Tempest as one of Shakespeare"s most sophisticated comedies.Like The Tempest (and, indeed, Pericles) the unity of time is defied to an almost magical extent as the heroine, Perdita,grows from a child to womanhood before our eyes. The tragicearly events in the first part of the play are transformed into afeast of reconciliation, that quality which marks Shakespeare"s later plays. The text of this edition is taken from the Cambridge University Press New Shakespeare, edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and John Dover Wilson.