The first in a magical realist series set in Shakespearean London, The Dark Lady references the Bard’s sonnets as well as crafting an uncompromising picture of street life in Renaissance England. Akala's debut novel for teens follows a pickpocket with an exceptional gift, a prisoner of extraordinary value, and an orphan haunted by dreams of the mysterious Dark Lady. Henry is an orphan, an outsider, a thief. He is also a fifteen-year-old invested with magical powers in a time when London stank and boys like Henry were forced to find their own route through the tangled streets and out the other side.