Mary's Monster

Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein
Lita Judge
Roaring Book Press, 2018 312 pages
Grades 9-Up
Biography/Narrative Poetry/Graphic

Judge traces the tremulous and rocky path that led Mary Shelley to pen one of the most influential horror stories in history. Born during a time and place of severe convention to an unconventional family, Mary was destined to have an unusual life. A famous writer in her own right, Mary's mother dies in childbirth, leaving her two children from two different relationships to her writer husband. He remarries to a difficult woman with children of her own. After a childhood filled with abandonment, disappointment, and hard work, Mary meets the married poet Percy Shelley and is instantly smitten. The two enter into a clandestine relationship, resulting in Mary running away from home with Shelley and taking her step-sister with her, away from the dysfunction and unhappiness. Life with Shelley is not as idyllic as the lovers had hoped with Shelley's financial problems and marital complications and the situation worsens as Mary discovers that she is pregnant. The loss of her child devastates her as she enters a period of depression and Shelley finds comfort and love in the arms of the stepsister. Eventually the young people encounter the poet Lord Byron and the group travels together socializing and creating. More devastating losses occur, yet through it all Mary finds her voice and learns to battle her inner demons by confronting the monster within and letting him out through the process of creating Frankenstein.

I have always known that Frankenstein was written by a teenage girl, but never knew her story. And quite a story it is. Filled with love, desperation, despair, and betrayal, Mary Shelley had a very interesting life. She managed to create a classic still read many generations later, all while struggling against the constraints of her sex, class and rigid conventions of the time period. An accomplished creator of picture books, Judge turns her sights to much darker subject matter than her usual fare. Her illustrations are breathtakingly beautiful and reflect the macabre mood of the subject matter perfectly. Her poems are accomplished and well written, all while moving the stranger than fiction storyline along. Judge demonstrates the many obstacles faced by the young author and shows her persevering through heartbreak and loss to find an artistic voice and independence. Because of the maturity of the subject matter, it is not for younger teens, but older teens and adults will find the book haunting and fascinating and not be able to put it down. As I read this volume many times I picked up my phone to find out more information about the historical figures presented within its pages. This was not completely necessary for extensive back matter is offered with historic information, brief biographies of the central players, a bibliography, source notes, and even a list of book read by Mary Shelley that most certainly influenced her writing. Both inspirational in format and execution, as well as content, readers will find much to appreciate and savor.