When Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley) was a high-spirited teenager, on the onset of puberty, one of her arms became “mysteriously handicapped”. In places, Sampson is as adept as Frankenstein himself, giving life to a figure who convincingly aches and bleeds. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mary Shelley … precocious child, celebrated writer, anguished mother and wife. And it is their shared faith in biography as a valuable exploration of character, despite the imperfections of the genre, that is perhaps what brings Sampson closest in her search for Mary Shelley. • In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein is published by Profile.

Source: The Guardian January 04, 2018 07:30 UTC