A review by horfhorfhorf
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon

4.0

Both Wollstonecraft and Shelley were victims of their time; fierce, educated, informed and passionate writers... but still women, for all that meant in the eyes of both law & society, and still prone to loving men who were equally as artistic and intellectual, if significantly less domesticated than either Mary would have hoped for. I wonder, though, if Wollstonecraft would still have married Godwin has she known the hell he would wreak upon her legacy.

Gordon did a fantastic job compiling, organizing, and moving through the lifetimes of both women, though a fair amount of conjecture was required to fill in the gaps where diaries, letters, and other records have gone missing or were destroyed, likely at the hands of some well-meaning (or risk-averse) descendant.

This book sets a fantastic standard for the "About, and Written By, Women" shelf in my library.