Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
"A superlative, riveting history" (BookPage) of Mary Shelley's creation of Frankenstein and the personal and poetic background behind the story.
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.
Synopsis
The authors of the award-winning In Darkness, Death share the remarkable true story of Frankenstein's origins and the curse on its creators.
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
Dorothy and Tom Hoobler have written more than 80 books for adults, young adults, and children, and have received numerous awards from library, educational, and cultural organizations. Their ten-book series for Oxford University Press, The American Family Albums, has gone through several printings and has been used as premiums for PBS television fund-raising drives throughout the United States.