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.