Mary Shelley Paperback – 22 Feb. 2018

Mary is of course the wild child of English literature. This book is so extensive it will take some time to get it all in. But that was the reason to buy it. Massive biography!

This is a really thorough look at her life, highly recommended.

Very informative and appreciated. My daughter has a fascination with Frankenstein and really loved this book.

great book by a wonderful writer, and perfect price ...

How did a young girl write such a Novel Great Biography xx

I quite agree with the other reviewer. There are other books on Mary Shelley, but this is very much the definitive version and should be your first stop if you are interested in this fascinating woman and her fascinating life.

There exist a couple other recent takes upon certain aspects of the author of Frankenstein, each of which has its various merits, but Miranda Seymour's book is, in this reader's opinion, far and away, the best. Seymour's universally-celebrated biography remains for me---both in terms of scholarship and sheer reading pleasure---indisputably the definitive account of the fascinating life of Mary Shelley.

The content of the book is enjoyable but it has more spelling/typo errors than any book I have ever read. I got the Kindle version and at its worst, there are several spelling errors per page. Things such as consistently using a 'd' instead of a 't' etc. At some points it is maddening (just to be clear, I am not talking about spellings in Shelly's correspondence but in the body of the text). How could this possibly have got past quality control? If I were the author, I'd be devastated.

This is a well researched, recounting of the life of the gifted and tragic author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley who wrote the masterpiece, "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus."In writing this book, biographer Miranda Seymour had access to authoritative printed editions of all Mary Shelley's correspondence, her short stories, her travel writings, and her five novels. She also visited and got a feel for the places where Mary Shelley lived. As a result, her understanding of Mary Shelley captivates the reader from beginning to end.This book will be of interest to a broad readership: those who like good biographies; those interested in the Romantic Period in literature (Mary Shelley's circle of friends included her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Coleridge, Byron, and Keats among others); those interested in the scientific studies of her days (1797-1851) because Mary Shelley's friends included prominent European physicians and scientists; those interested in psychology (Mary and her mother suffered from depression that affected both of their lives in significant ways); those interested in feminism (Mary's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was the architect of modern feminism and Mary's contributions are also significant); those interested in studying creativity (Mary was extremely talented); those interested in the history and politics of the time that Mary lived (both played an important role in Mary's life).I, personally, was interested in this book because "Frankenstein" can be read as a study of the effects of unrepaired shame on human development. I was curious about how Mary's life might have contributed to her portrayal of this. I was not disappointed.I highly recommend this biography.

I had recently seen a movie about Mary Shelly and wanted to learn more about her. This book is detailed and provides photographs of people and places discussed in the book. I was pleasantly surprised to see the faces of those I read about, and I was not expecting this.

I picked up the book as I was studying Frankenstein. It is not only a great biography but it helped me with many of the themes and images in the novel.

Hard to imagine that this lovely lady came up with this horrible monster that is thrilled us since the publication of this book in the 1800's movies have been made people that been scared 450 260 years by the lovely ladies imagination

Fantastic condition. Arrived ahead of schedule.The book itself is fascinating, in-depth, and written in a style that's not overly-bland. Seymour does justice in retelling some of the critical moments of Shelley's life.This book was actually originally recommended to me by my English professor during a lecture about 'Frankenstein' and it's author.Belongs on all shelves.