Mary Shelley Book summary

Marry Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in 1979 to William Goodwin, who was a philosopher of repute, and Mary Wollstonecraft, who was a celebrated feminist of her time. Sadly, Mary Shelley's mother passed away within a fortnight of her birth owing to pieces of placenta that remained in her womb and became infected. Mary Shelley had a deep love for her father but spent a lot of time away from home in boarding school. She was later in her life disowned by him, when she eloped to marry the poet, Percy Shelley, at the age of 16. He was a good friend of William Goodwin, visited their house often, and had been previously married. In fact, his previous wife, committed suicide shortly after Mary and Percy had married.

Mary Shelley became pregnant five times, but only one of her children survived beyond infancy. It is also believed that Mary was not satisfied with the care that Percy provided for both her and her children during their marriage. Unfortunately, Mary was widowed when Percy drowned in a shipwreck at sea in 1822. Percy was a great literary influence on Mary Shelley, and as stated in the author's note, he was responsible for writing nearly the whole of the preface. She also made use of his famous literary devices such as the apostrophe in the writing of her book.