OUR STORE IS CLOSED ON ANZAC DAY: THURSDAY 25 APRIL
MARY SHARRATT, the author of seven critically acclaimed novels, is on a mission to write strong women back into history. Her novels include Daughters of the Witching Hill, the Nautilus award-winning Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, The Dark Lady's Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare's Muse, and Ecstasy, about the life, loves, and music of Alma Mahler. She is an American who lives in Lancashire, England.
"""Sharratt's historical novel is not just a response to the enigmas surrounding Shakespeare's sonnets but also an absorbing bildungsroman that grapples with strikingly contemporary issues of gender and religious identification, definitions and discrimination . . . At every turn the reader grows increasingly attached to this sympathetic and admirable heroine, whose weaknesses make her all the more convincingly human."" --New York Times Book Review ""Entertaining . . . Quite touching, a finale befitting a character who has spun many a tale without ever seeing a byline."" --Washington Post ""Atmospheric, well-researched, carefully plotted, this is an intellectual's romance novel . . . . full-bodied and intelligent, and, like Shakespeare's plays, chock-full of equal parts mirth and pith to please all."" --Minneapolis Star Tribune ""Glorious . . . . It's too easy to categorize The Dark Lady's Mask as a novel of romance and Shakespeare. This is a novel of womanhood, its constraints and celebrations."" --Roanoke Times ""Sharratt creates a believable and delightful portrayal of Lanier and her possible role as Shakespeare's Dark Muse. Her characters are rich and complex, and the intricacies, joys, and pains of their lives are realistic. The speculation within the novel works extremely well, because Sharratt works with historical fact and academic theory in the space between the documented facts of Lanier's life, Shakespeare's life, and their written works. Very highly recommended!"" --Historical Novel Society --"
