Dark Sweet Wanton

Dark Sweet Wanton is the story of Mary Fytton, the woman believed to be the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. Will Shakespeare is just one of a large cast of strongly drawn characters to appear in this novel, which opens with Mary's (Mall's) early life as the unhappy daughter of a Cheshire squire. Mall's subsequent elevation to lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I brings her to London and opens her eyes to the intrigues and lusts which are rife at the court of the Virgin Queen. Anguish and wild gaiety are to govern even her family and closest friends, and are indicative of an England of contrasts. For, far from the glittering, decadent and ambitious court, with its ageing Queen and handsome suitors, the shires are marked by hardship, feuding and superstition. Outside the court the streets of London are prey to poverty and desperation. At the centre of this scene Mall is to experience much unhappiness and frustration. She is not beautiful, but a passionate and spirited woman and a favourite of Elizabeth. She is an enigma whose encounters with men are thwart with sadness. However, as court life takes its toll, Mall is quite suddenly disgraced and exiled. Happily, she finds fulfilment with the one man she has loved since childhood.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Romance. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.