Told from Mary and Jane’s perspectives, Monsters is a novel about radical ideas, rule-breaking love, dangerous Romantics, and the creation of the greatest Gothic novel of them all: Frankenstein. And she knows the biggest secrets of them all. From there, the two young lovers travel a Europe in the throes of revolutionary change, through high and low society, tragedy and passion, where they will be drawn into the orbit of the mad and bad Lord Byron.īut Mary and Percy are not alone: they bring Jane, Mary’s young step-sister.

Monsters is published by Andersen Press who kindly sent me a copy.Monsters published by Andersen Press (UK)ġ814: Mary Godwin, the sixteen-year-old daughter of radical socialist and feminist writers, runs away with a dangerously charming young poet – Percy Bysshe Shelley. If you don't know the life story of Mary Shelley then this book will be an eye opener but even if you are already familiar with the pain and loss that spurred her creation of an epic novel then this book still has much to offer in bringing to light the other players in this story and in fleshing out the personality of the immensely talented creator of Frankenstein. Death is an ever present spectre at the feast in these shining, intelligent and talented young people's lives. The author brings alive the tangled relationships of the Shelley set, their loves, rivalries, heartbreaks and loss. Sharon Dogar's book is aimed at the young adult audience the two sisters Mary and Jane (later Claire) who elope with Shelley are after all only sixteen, Shelley himself is just twenty one, though I have no doubt that this novel will appeal far beyond it's target audience.

Sharon Dogar's book stands out not least because it is a detailed and closely researched novelisation of the short and frenetic years of Mary's life that led to the creation of Frankenstein but also because it is a tender and intimate portrait of the three sisters Mary, Claire and Fanny who grew up together in the Godwin household. As 2018 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein there were a number of books published about Mary Shelley's remarkable life and work.

Monsters sharon dogar