Mary Shelley

Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein in 1818, a prize-winning poet delivers a major new biography of Mary Shelley—as she has never been seen before. We know the facts of Mary Shelley’s life in some detail—the death of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, within days of her birth; the upbringing in the house of her father, William Godwin, in a house full of radical thinkers, poets, philosophers, and writers; her elopement, at the age of seventeen, with Percy Shelley; the years of peripatetic travel across Europe that followed. But there has been no literary biography written this century, and previous books have ignored the real person—what she actually thought and felt and why she did what she did—despite the fact that Mary and her group of second-generation Romantics were extremely interested in the psychological aspect of life. In this probing narrative, Fiona Sampson pursues Mary Shelley through her turbulent life, much as Victor Frankenstein tracked his monster across the arctic wastes. Sampson has written a book that finally answers the question of how it was that a nineteen-year-old came to write a novel so dark, mysterious, anguished, and psychologically astute that it continues to resonate two centuries later. No previous biographer has ever truly considered this question, let alone answered it.

Mary Shelley's own life was as dramatic as her fiction. Even had she not (at the age of 19) authored Frankenstein, one of the greatest horror fables in literature, she would be crucial to the study of Romanticism, as the daughter of two of the great radical thinkers of the day, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft (who died following Mary's birth); and as the second Mrs Percy Bysshe Shelley, her companion for that stormy stay at Byron's Geneva villa in 1816 - the 'haunted summer' that begat Frankenstein. Drawing on unexplored sources, Miranda Seymour's hugely acclaimed biography penetrates the myth to offer the fullest, richest portrait of this extraordinary woman. 'Mary Shelley is the most dazzling biography of a female writer to have come my way for an entire decade.' Financial Times 'Brilliant and enthralling, this portrait illuminates Mary's life in many unexpected ways.' Independent on Sunday 'Miranda Seymour has vivid narrative gifts and a perceptive understanding of the main personalities.' New York Times Book Review 'A thoughtfully considered and exceptionally lifelike portrait of a complex and often misunderstood character.' Los Angeles Times 'A harrowing life, wonderfully retold.' Washington Post Book World 'A splendid biography.' New Yorker

Curated new collections. Mary Shelley, whose Frankenstein is the foundation of modern SF, fantasy and horror fiction, was born to the writer William Godwin and social campaigner Mary Wollstonecraft. This new, special collection brings together extracts of her novels and short stories, with an emphasis on the supernatural.

“Some of the strongest essays of recent times on Shelley’s work . . . A valuable piece of criticism.” —Byron Journal Mary Shelley is largely remembered as the author of Frankenstein, as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and as the daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. This collection of essays, edited by Betty T. Bennett and Stuart Curran, offers a more complete and complex picture of Mary Shelley—author of six novels, five volumes of biographical lives, two travel books, and numerous short stories, essays, and reviews—emphasizing the full range and significance of her writings in terms of her own era and ours. Mary Shelley in Her Times brings fresh insight to the life and work of an often neglected and misunderstood writer who, the editors remind us, spent nearly three decades at the center of England’s literary world during the country’s profound transition between the Romantic and Victorian eras. The essays in this volume demonstrate the importance of Mary Shelley’s neglected novels, including Matilda, Valperga, The Last Man, and Falkner. Other topics include her work in various literary genres, her editing of her husband’s poetry and prose, her politics, and her trajectory as a female writer. This volume advances Mary Shelley studies to a new level of discourse and raises important issues for English Romanticism and women’s studies.

"The novel 'Frankenstein' by Marry Shelley is a very famous gothic novel and has sold many copies till date. It is a compelling book that has managed to grab the attention of audiences since day-one. According to some, the monster of Frankenstein is symbolic of the industrialization that created havoc and destruction in Europe in the nineteenth century. However, according to others, it stands for the fears in the writer's mind to changing times and new events. The novel is often classified as gothic since it dwells on mystery and the supernatural world. The setting is that of dark, sublime and exotic, making the reader uneasy. And, the 'double' feature only adds to the mystery and the sensation for the reader. According to some critics in the past and present, this is the first extant scientific novel written in English language. The writing style of the author is truly remarkable and is the main highlight of this book. The plot of the book has been well thought of and it has all the essentials that make a book a classic. It has the right dose of love, suspense, friendship and, quintessential to this book, human psychology. The book provides the reader with an understanding on life in a totally new and refreshing manner."

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SEATTLE TIMES This groundbreaking dual biography brings to life a pioneering English feminist and the daughter she never knew. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley have each been the subject of numerous biographies, yet no one has ever examined their lives in one book—until now. In Romantic Outlaws, Charlotte Gordon reunites the trailblazing author who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and the Romantic visionary who gave the world Frankenstein—two courageous women who should have shared their lives, but instead shared a powerful literary and feminist legacy. In 1797, less than two weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft died, and a remarkable life spent pushing against the boundaries of society’s expectations for women came to an end. But another was just beginning. Wollstonecraft’s daughter Mary was to follow a similarly audacious path. Both women had passionate relationships with several men, bore children out of wedlock, and chose to live in exile outside their native country. Each in her own time fought against the injustices women faced and wrote books that changed literary history. The private lives of both Marys were nothing less than the stuff of great Romantic drama, providing fabulous material for Charlotte Gordon, an accomplished historian and a gifted storyteller. Taking readers on a vivid journey across revolutionary France and Victorian England, she seamlessly interweaves the lives of her two protagonists in alternating chapters, creating a book that reads like a richly textured historical novel. Gordon also paints unforgettable portraits of the men in their lives, including the mercurial genius Percy Shelley, the unbridled libertine Lord Byron, and the brilliant radical William Godwin. “Brave, passionate, and visionary, they broke almost every rule there was to break,” Gordon writes of Wollstonecraft and Shelley. A truly revelatory biography, Romantic Outlaws reveals the defiant, creative lives of this daring mother-daughter pair who refused to be confined by the rigid conventions of their era. Praise for Romantic Outlaws “[An] impassioned dual biography . . . Gordon, alternating between the two chapter by chapter, binds their lives into a fascinating whole. She shows, in vivid detail, how mother influenced daughter, and how the daughter’s struggles mirrored the mother’s.”—The Boston Globe

A 2018 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books On the bicentennial of Frankenstein, join Mary Shelley on the night she created the most frightening monster the world has ever seen. On a stormy night two hundred years ago, a young woman sat in a dark house and dreamed of her life as a writer. She longed to follow the path her own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, had started down, but young Mary Shelley had yet to be inspired. As the night wore on, Mary grew more anxious. The next day was the deadline that her friend, the poet Lord Byron, had set for writing the best ghost story. After much talk of science and the secrets of life, Mary had gone to bed exhausted and frustrated that nothing she could think of was scary enough. But as she drifted off to sleep, she dreamed of a man that was not a man. He was a monster. This fascinating story gives readers insight into the tale behind one of the world's most celebrated novels and the creation of an indelible figure that is recognizable to readers of all ages. "Eye-catching artwork and engaging storytelling give this biography of a fascinating woman even more appeal."--Booklist

This YA biography offers “a thorough, sensitive portrayal of one of literature’s most remarkable authors, illustrated with period portraits and engravings” (Kirkus). Most famous for her iconic tale of gothic horror, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley led a life that could itself have been a gothic novel. This “fascinating, scandal-rich” biography recounts a story full of drama, death, and one of the strangest romances in literary history (Booklist). Raised by her father, the political philosopher William Godwin, Shelley ran away to Lake Geneva with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when she was only sixteen years old. It was there, during a cold and wet summer, that she first imagined her story about a mad scientist who brought a corpse back to life. Success soon followed for Mary, but also great tragedy and misfortune. In Mary Shelley, Catherine Reef brings this passionate woman, brilliant writer, and forgotten feminist into crisp focus, detailing a life that was remarkable both before and after the publication of her immortal masterpiece.