The Dark Lady's Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare's Muse by Mary Sharratt
A 7 year old Aemilia grows up listening to her father stories of his native country Italy. It sounds so enchanting to Aemilia, setting her on a dream to visit those lands. She receives “the identical grammar-school education that a boy would receive between the ages of 7 and 14…” She has passion for poetry and her first exposure of her talent is at the court of Elizabeth I.
As a young woman, when she meets Shakespeare, she hatches a plan of becoming collaborators. So she could write under his name and him becoming her mask. Her last relative in Italy is on a deathbed. She travels to Italy to claim the inheritance. She asks Shakespeare to join her.
On a boat heading for Venice, they collaborate on their first playwright. At the Venetian theater, she discovers not only playwright written by women, but also female actresses, which was unheard off in England. From Venice, they head towards the mountains and the villa of her relative outside Verona. There they write the famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
Soon after, tragedy strikes and sets them on separate paths. Back in London, their plays become huge success. Her Italian experience gives her courage to write under her name in London, which “earned her place in history (…) by becoming the first Englishwoman to aspire to earn her living as a professional, published poet…”
The story is brilliantly written including endearing relationship between father and daughter, glimpse of Jewish struggles of oppression, and great first encounter of Aemilia with Shakespeare.
Release date: 19 April 2016
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Comments
Post a Comment