The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein

dorothy hoobler thomas hoobler

One murky night in 1816, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, famed English poet, challenged his friends to a contest--to write a ghost story. The assembled group included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; his lover (and future wife) Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont; and Byron's physician, John William Polidori. The famous result was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a work that has retained its hold on the popular imagination for almost two centuries. Less well-known was the curious Polidori's contribution: the first vampire novel. And the evening begat a curse, too: Within a few years of Frankenstein's publication, nearly all of those involved met untimely deaths. Drawing upon letters, rarely tapped archives, and their own magisterial rereading of Frankenstein itself, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler have crafted a rip-roaring tale of obsession and creation.

Genres nonfictionbiographyhistorybooks about booksliterary criticismhorrorhistoricalvictor frankensteinmary shelleyclassics

377 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22,2006

This edition

Format: 377 pages, Hardcover
Published: May 22, 2006 by Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 9780316000789
ASIN: 0316000787
Language: English

Characters More characters

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley, née Wollstonecraft Godwin, (1797 - 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and pro...

About the author

dorothy hoobler

Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, a married couple who have written numerous books together, were drawn to this story of great writers inspiring each other collaboratively. Their most recent novel, In Darkness, Death, won a 2005 Edgar Award. They live in New York City.

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