Books with title Mary Shelley: The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein's Creator

On the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein, comes a riveting biography of its author, Mary Shelley, whose life reads like a dark gothic novel, filled with scandal, death, drama, and one of the strangest love stories in literary history. The story of Frankenstein’s creator is a strange, romantic, and tragic one, as deeply compelling as the novel itself. Mary ran away to Lake Geneva with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when she was just sixteen. 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. 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 iconic masterpiece. Includes index.

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.

It began with a girl named Mary. She liked to daydream and imagine. And she grew up to write Frankenstein.The inspirational true story of the great writer Mary Shelley, brought to life for children in this stunning picture book by multi-award winning author Linda Bailey and with beautiful illustrations from Júlia Sardà.Mary loves stories, but the stories in her daydreams are far more thrilling than those in any book. After a troubled childhood, Mary runs away to Switzerland with the famous poet Percy Bysse Shelley, her step-sister in tow. One dark and stormy night at his house by the lake, they huddle around the fire, telling ghost stories. But Mary can imagine better than those! After learning about electricity that can make dead frogs twitch, she has a nightmare that triggers the birth of one of the greatest scary stories of all time: Frankenstein...A perfect read for the very youngest aspiring writers, and for fans of Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell’s The Sleeper and the Spindle.Praise for the illustrator: “Júlia Sardà's illustrations are dark, dream-like, detailed” THE TIMES

Mary Shelley, daughter of feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and philosopher William Godwin, lived a life that seems lifted from the pages of the gothic romances that would someday make her immortal. Born during a violent storm, cast from British society at age sixteen, she was abandoned by her father for running away with the rebel poet Percy Bysse Shelley. When she was just nineteen, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein--the world's first work of science fiction and a novel that would change the face of English literature.