I requested The Dark Lady's Mask after being interested in knowing more about the mysterious woman who was supposedly the muse for Shakespeare's classic "dark lady" sonnets. However, I am not a Shakespeare fan at all, and I never was even all through graduate school. If I liked anything of his, it was his poetry, so that's the basis of my interest. Overall, my dislike for the poet probably has a lot to do with why I didn't enjoy this novel. It's niche subject suited to fans of Shakespeare. I must say that Sharrat's writing is beautiful, and she's excellent at style, structure, and weaving historical fact into her fiction, but that didn't save me from my inability to fully engage in or get into this book. I tried several times.

I would still recommend picking up this book if you like Elizabethan-era history, poetry/drama, and if you like/want to know more about Shakespeare. This book just didn't do it for me.

I had reviewed this ages ago: https://hergraceslibrary.com/2016/05/17/the-dark-ladys-mask/