Dark Aemilia
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
The story of a Venetian musician's daughter, Aemilia Bassano, who a decade after the death of Elizabeth I begs help from her former lover, William Shakespeare, when her son catches the plague.
"The daughter of a Venetian musician, Aemilia Bassano came of age in Queen Elizabeth's royal court. The Queen's favorite, she developed a love of poetry and learning, maturing into a young woman known not only for her beauty but also her sharp mind and a quick tongue. When Aemilia becomes the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, she fears her mind will languish--until 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 son Henry takes ill, Aemilia will 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. Full of passion and devilish schemes, Dark Aemilia is a tale worthy of the Bard. - For readers of Deborah Harkness, Paula Brackston, and Sarah Dunant"--
Reviews with the most likes.
This story gets off to a rocky start. Aemilia Bassano is not very interesting as a privileged court lady who is the mistress of the Lord Chamberlain in late Elizabethan England. She insists she's smarter and more educated than all the other women except Elizabeth herself, but she just comes across as spoiled and bratty. I had a hard time caring about her until she was married off to a shiftless court musician because she'd gotten pregnant. Everyone assumes it's the Lord Chamberlain's child, but actually it's William Shakespeare's–she's been secretly having a torrid affair with him.
Hardship makes Aemilia a lot more interesting. Her struggle to keep herself and her child clothed and fed in spite of her husband's irresponsibility, and her private struggle to be taken seriously as a writer, make her very appealing. Details of life in Elizabethan London are fascinating (this book comes with a bibliography of sources for that detail), and there IS a touch of the supernatural in the story, although not as much as you would think from the publisher's blurb.
