Mary Shelley (British Library Writers' Lives Series) Garrett, Martin

Product Description Mary Shelley traces the unusual life of the author of one of the most famous and terrifying novels of all time, Frankenstein. Martin Garrett looks at Mary Shelley's unconventional early life as the daughter of the free-thinking feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died soon after Shelley's birth, and the radical philosopher William Godwin, her elopement with Percy Bysshe Shelley and his encouragement of her writing, and her life after Percy's death. With prominent literary figures such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt, and Lord Byron appearing throughout, Mary Shelley features photographs, paintings, journal entries, and manuscripts that help re-create the life of an extraordinary woman From School Library Journal Grade 10 Up-Mary Godwin Shelley, her husband Percy, and the various people who touched their lives receive an unbiased review in this book. By including details from the writer's diaries and those of her contemporaries in chronological order, Garrett weaves the story of Shelley's life with analyses of her work-most famously, Frankenstein. The author presents ample but dry information about his subject's formative years, her young romance with Percy, their struggles and the deaths of three of their children, their bohemian travels, and Percy's death. The authorial voice rarely intrudes on the events, except perhaps to clarify a popular belief of the time or challenge the veracity of the primary source. Garrett also provides a mature reading of her works and the excellent full-color and black-and-white illustrations are informative as well as appealing. However, the reproductions of original letters and drafts are virtually unreadable. This, along with the British vocabulary and style, makes the book most appropriate for the narrow audience of AP or dual-credit students. Karen Hoth, Marathon Middle/High School, FL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Dr. Martin Garrett is a lifelong aficionado of 19th-century English literature.