Synopsis: Mary and her sister Jane have always longed for a handsome young poet to whisk them away from their mundane life. Then, in the spring of 1814, Percy Shelley walks into their father's shop, like an angel of deliverance. Seduced by Shelley's radical ideas - equality of the sexes and freedom from the binds of religion - the girls flee with him to Europe. But the life they lead together is frowned on by their family and society. Persecuted by gossip and plagued by jealousy and suspicion, Mary becomes haunted by freakish imaginings. Her children with Shelley begin to die, and though her grief threatens to overwhelm her and her marriage to Shelley, it also gives her the germ of an idea - a story. Shelley’s death, after a foolish sailing expedition, is the final catalyst that inspires Mary to write Frankenstein..

Review: Bennett’s novel would most suit post-16 readers and could be used as supplmentary reading at A-Level, perhaps as a contemporary extension to work on Mary or Percy Shelley.

Bennett’s writing is sophisticated in that she mirrors the language of Mary Shelley, which might make it less accesible to younger readers. At times, I felt ambivalent about this book as it is clear that Bennett has extensively researched Mary Shelley’s life and as a result, the reader learns a lot about her, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. However, I wasn’t convinced that the excellent research translates well into the ‘powerful story’ it claims to be. I thought that some of the more tragic elements of the story weren’t handled with the sensitivity and depth they required, e.g. Mary’s baby daughter and son die within months of one another but the reader is rushed through grieving process to the sudden news of Mary’s third pregnancy. It seemed as if in the hurry to tell the reader all the facts about Mary’s life, Bennett compromises any real empathy we might have for Mary Shelley.

If you were to use this book with KS3 or KS4 readers, it might lend itself well to a unit of work on biography or autobiography as the novel does capture the key elements of this genre.

2006-10-09