The Year of the Tempest

Who was Shakespeare's dark lady? How were his sonnets published without his permission--and, why? And how did he and the dark lady navigate the perils and paranoia of the fractious and divisive early 17th Century? This novel offers a glimpse into the conflicts and complexities behind Shakespeare's sonnet masterpiece. Shakespeare has renewed his affair with Amelia Lanyer, the dark lady of his sonnet sequence, a liaison started a decade earlier; but these are perilous times, after the gunpowder plot to destroy the English government. Secrecy and suspicion are everywhere, and the Crown's counsel seems intent on implicating Shakespeare. In this uncertain time, Shakespeare's sonnets are published, but without his consent--how, and why? This novel offers a glimpse into the conflicts and complexities behind the finest sonnet collection in history.