Her Lost Words
A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley
1 of 1 copy available
1792. As a child, Mary Wollstonecraft longed to disappear during her father’s violent rages. Instead, she transforms herself into the radical author of the landmark volume A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she dares to propose that women are equal to men. From conservative England to the blood-drenched streets of revolutionary France, Mary refuses to bow to society’s conventions and instead supports herself with her pen until an illicit love affair challenges her every belief about romance and marriage. When she gives birth to a daughter and is stricken with childbed fever, Mary fears it will be her many critics who recount her life’s extraordinary odyssey…
1818. The daughter of infamous political philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, passionate Mary Shelley learned to read by tracing the letters of her mother’s tombstone. As a young woman, she desperately misses her mother’s guidance, especially following her scandalous elopement with dashing poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary struggles to balance an ever-complicated marriage with motherhood while nursing twin hopes that she might write something of her own one day and also discover the truth of her mother’s unconventional life. Mary’s journey will unlock her mother’s secrets, all while leading to her own destiny as the groundbreaking author of Frankenstein.
A riveting and inspiring novel about a firebrand feminist, her visionary daughter, and the many ways their words transformed our world.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 28, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593675649
- File size: 419861 KB
- Duration: 14:34:42
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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January 16, 2023
Thornton (A Most Clever Girl) chronicles the lives of two pioneering authors in this stirring narrative. Mary Wollstonecraft is introduced in 1775 as a teenager who is hungry, homeless, and bloodied at the hands of her father, having tried to protect her mother. She’s rescued by a family friend, Mrs. Clare, a reverend’s wife who had previously nurtured the girl’s yearning for knowledge by slipping her a new book to read every Sunday. Reverend Clare does his part to help Wollstonecraft find a better life by getting her a governess job. Wollstonecraft’s first position is short-lived, after she persuades her charges that their education is more important than finding a spouse, but her independent spirit eventually leads to literary success and influence. She dies in 1797 while giving birth to Mary, who adopts her mother’s perspectives on equal treatment for women and the importance of lifelong learning. Mary eventually marries poet and philosopher Percy Shelley, and writes the novel Frankenstein at 18, about a monster whose anger, fear, and sadness reflects her own inner turmoil. Thornton brings a sense of urgency to the women’s inner lives, as well as a fair amount of insight into their work. Much has been written about the authors, but Thornton does justice to their singular lives. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. -
Narrator Hannah Curtis portrays the radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, and narrator Grace Gray portrays Wollstonecraft's daughter, Mary Shelley, creator of the character Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft died giving birth to her daughter, who spent a lifetime longing for information about her mother. Curtis and Gray excel as they deliver a variety of characters and picturesque descriptions of the women's unconventional lives, particularly their travels, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Listeners will hear about the French Revolution as Wollstonecraft witnessed it and about Frankenstein, whom Shelley created from her own experience of abandonment. Percy Shelley and Mary's powerful love is a memorable part of the novel. The narrators' dual delivery helps listeners differentiate between the two Marys, and the work's notes add further clarity. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
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