Bookish Supper Society invite you to Venetia, Italy, for a fun-filled long weekend (17–19 April) in the company of Myriad author Sally O’Reilly and her evocative, Shakespearean England-set novel, Dark Aemilia.

Based at a stylish hotel in Breganze, the trip will include a leisurely literary walk around Venice, a gala dinner at Villa Godi Malinverni, wine-tasting, lunch in a local trattoria and more. Guests will be drinking the best wine, eating the the most delicious food and visiting a variety of places including castles, villas and vineyards.

Dark Aemilia is the boldest imagining of the era since Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth. This spellbinding novel of witchcraft, poetry and passion brings to life Aemilia Lanyer, the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s Sonnets — the playwright’s muse and his one true love. The daughter of a Venetian musician but orphaned as a young girl, Aemilia Bassano grows up in the court of Elizabeth I, becoming the Queen’s favourite. She absorbs a love of poetry and learning, maturing into a striking young woman with a sharp mind and a quick tongue. Now brilliant, beautiful and highly educated, she becomes mistress of Lord Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain and Queen’s cousin. But her position is precarious; when she falls in love with court playwright William Shakespeare, her fortunes change irrevocably.

For more information and a full itinerary, click here.

The trip costs £425 per person including accommodation, meals, drinks and Italian transport, based on two people sharing a room.

To book a place, email [email protected].