Dark Aemelia

Listed in the Literature category on Art In Fiction, Dark Aemelia (2014) by Sally O’Reilly is a tale of sorcery and passion in 17th-century London. The daughter of a Venetian musician, Aemilia Bassano came of age in Queen Elizabeth's royal court. The Queen's favorite, she develops a love of poetry and learning, maturing into a young woman known not only for her beauty but also her sharp mind and quick tongue. Aemilia becomes the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, but her position is precarious. Then she crosses paths with an impetuous playwright named William Shakespeare and begins an impassioned but ill-fated affair. A decade later, the Queen is dead, and Aemilia Bassano is now Aemilia Lanyer, fallen from favor and married to a fool. Like the rest of London, she fears the plague. And when her young son Henry takes ill, Aemilia resolves to do anything to save him, even if it means seeking help from her estranged lover, Will―or worse, making a pact with the Devil himself. In rich, vivid detail, Sally O'Reilly breathes life into England's first female poet, a mysterious woman nearly forgotten by history. “More tantalizing than the thought of Shakespeare in love is the thought of Shakespeare in lust… Set at the turn of the 17th century, Dark Aemilia seethes with intrigue, sorcery and sex, not to mention the Black Death, but O'Reilly lends her heroine a modern sheen by emphasizing her intelligence and her feminism…. Was the real Dark Lady this Dark? Let's hope so.” ―Liesl Schillinger, The New York Times Book Review Sally O'Reilly has received numerous citations for her fiction, which has been shortlisted for the Ian St James Short Story Prize and the Cosmopolitan  Short Story Award. A former Cosmopolitan  New Journalist of the Year, her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard , and The New Scientist . She teaches creative writing at the Open University and the University of Portsmouth in England.    Buy Now from Amazon