A review by lene_kretzsch
Death and the Maidens: Fanny Wollstonecraft and the Shelley Circle by Janet Todd

informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.75

Clearly a labour of love for the author, this is in many ways a model biography: careful, thorough, sympathetic without indulging in adulation. Unfortunately, it's also mostly a crashing bore. Part of the dullness may be inherent to the book's main focus (Fanny Godwin, a rather unimportant cog in a much greater wheel of acquaintance) but part is the author's style. Only when Shelley appears on the scene does this story gain any interest as his natural charisma seems to power through even the dullest minutiae of finances and house-hunting. Given his distinctly inglorious role in this tragic tale, that seems all the sadder. While this book is likely a boon for scholars, I can't recommend it for the average reader.