Book
Romantic outlaws : the extraordinary lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley / Charlotte Gordon.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781400068425 (hardcover) :
- Physical Description: xviii, 649 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Edition: First U.S. edition.
- Publisher: New York : Random House, [2015]
- Copyright: ©2015
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroud Branch | 828.609 Gor | 31681002502821 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
"Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and her daughter Mary Shelley (1797-1851) have each been the subject of numerous biographies by top tier writers, yet no author has ever examined their lives in tandem. Perhaps this is because these two amazing women never knew each other--Wollstonecraft died of infection at the age of 38, a week after giving birth to her daughter. Nevertheless their lives were closely intertwined, their choices, dreams and tragedies so eerily similar, it seems impossible to consider one without the other: both became famous writers; both fell in love with brilliant but impossible authors; both were single mothers and had children out of wedlock (a shocking and self-destructive act in their day); both broke out of the rigid conventions oftheir era and lived in exile; and both played important roles in the Romantic era during which they lived. The lives of both Marys were nothing less than extraordinary, providing fabulous material for Charlotte Gordon, a gifted story teller. She seamlessly weaves their lives together in back and forth narratives, taking readers on a vivid journey across Revolutionary France and Victorian England, from the Italian seaports to the highlands of Scotland, in a book that reads like a richly textured historical novel"-- - Baker & Taylor
An analysis of the similar lives of the English feminist writer and her daughter, the author of Frankenstein, reveals the unrealized commonalities in their circumstances, choices and ambitions in spite of never knowing each other. By the award-winning author of Mistress Bradstreet. - Baker & Taylor
Presents the lives of the influential mother-daughter pair Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, focusing on their commitment to feminism, their writings, and their passionate relationships with men. - Random House, Inc.
This groundbreaking dual biography brings to life a pioneering English feminist and the daughter she never knew. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley have each been the subject of numerous biographies, yet no one has ever examined their lives in one bookâuntil now. In Romantic Outlaws, Charlotte Gordon reunites the trailblazing author who wroteA Vindication of the Rights of Woman and the Romantic visionary who gave the worldFrankensteinâtwo courageous women who should have shared their lives, but instead shared a powerful literary and feminist legacy.
In 1797, less than two weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft died, and a remarkable life spent pushing against the boundaries of societyâs expectations for women came to an end. But another was just beginning. Wollstonecraftâs daughter Mary was to follow a similarly audacious path. Both women had passionate relationships with several men, bore children out of wedlock, and chose to live in exile outside their native country. Each in her own time fought against the injustices women faced and wrote books that changed literary history.
The private lives of both Marys were nothing less than the stuff of great Romantic drama, providing fabulous material for Charlotte Gordon, an accomplished historian and a gifted storyteller. Taking readers on a vivid journey across revolutionary France and Victorian England, she seamlessly interweaves the lives of her two protagonists in alternating chapters, creating a book that reads like a richly textured historical novel. Gordon also paints unforgettable portraits of the men in their lives, including the mercurial genius Percy Shelley, the unbridled libertine Lord Byron, and the brilliant radical William Godwin.
âBrave, passionate, and visionary, they broke almost every rule there was to break,â Gordon writes of Wollstonecraft and Shelley. A truly revelatory biography,Romantic Outlaws reveals the defiant, creative lives of this daring mother-daughter pair who refused to be confined by the rigid conventions of their era.
Praise for Romantic Outlaws
â[An] impassioned dual biography . . . Gordon brings a rousing zeal to her pages. Both Wollstonecraft and Shelley have been the subject of previous biographiesâthe author builds her account on a tremendous variety of sources and scholarshipâbut Gordon, alternating between the two chapter by chapter, binds their lives into a fascinating whole. She shows, in vivid detail, how mother influenced daughter, and how the daughterâs struggles mirrored the motherâs.ââThe Boston Globe
âThoughtful, intelligent and deeply felt . . . Gordon has written a book about two women, a mother and her daughter, who changed not only the way we think, but the way we are. . . . Skillfully entwining the story of two generations that spanned a century, GordonâsRomantic Outlaws enables readers to compare the different ways in which these two remarkable women confronted their tragically difficult destinies.ââThe Sunday Times(U.K.)
âAn innovative dual biography that foregrounds the writing of two women who disregarded the moral codes of their eras and shaped their own destinies . . . Gordonâs parallel mapping of their lives reveals fascinating similarities in the ways writing sustained, and sometimes saved, them both.ââFinancial Times
âA most welcome deeper take on the women who scandalized Victorian Englandâand whose stories continue to resonate today.ââVogue
âExhilarating.ââPublishers Weekly (starred review)
