Sadly this was a dnf for me because of the very graphic description of childbirth gone wrong. It made for deeply uncomfortable reading and I couldn’t really cope.

"Love and Fury" just wasn't for me: the writing didn't suck me in and somehow it managed to portray the life of a fascinating woman in a way that made me want to go to sleep. I just didn't care for any of the characters and I was glad when it was over.

I cannot say how much I loved this book; I am a big fan of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley so this one was a must read for me. The story is told between Mary and her midwife as she tells her new daughter her life story. It felt very poignant knowing the history that Mary Shelley’s mother would pass away from fever just a week and a half after the birth of her child.
There was a lot of historical information in this but never once felt heavy or dragged down by that; Silva constructs the entire novel to feel warm and poignant as she depicts Wollstonecraft’s story but still keeps the reader’s attention with perfect pace and tone. Both mother and daughter were women out of their own time and this novel is a perfect tribute to them.

Really loved this book and found the retelling of Mary Wollstonecraft’s life convincing and compelling. Great use of dual narrative, which made the protagonist’s death seem at arms length.

As a lover of Mary Wollstonecraft's work, this was a fantastic read. It was heartbreaking, inspiring and insightful and made me appreciate Wollstonecraft's work even more.

I'm a huge fan of Mary Wollstonecraft, and devour everything written about her. This is a great addition to those. Love and Fury is a historical fiction, that shuttles between the week following the birth of Wollstonecraft's second daughter ( a scene involving her naming is spectacular and goosebump-inducing), and her childhood and experiences till that point. It's a beautifully written account that focuses on aspects of WOllstonecraft's life that mattered the most to her-sorority, the importance of women's education, the widening of options for women beyond marriage and motherhood, but it doesn't hesitate to also put her deep-seated abandonment issues front and center. It's not a detailed non-fictional account-nothing comes closest to Claire Tomalin's biography for that, but as a fictionalisation, that imagines her thoughts and desires, this is an excellent companion piece to that. It isn't exactly fictional, either, it's fairly close to the truth, since nearly all of her thoughts, and conversations, are taken verbatim from diary entries, letters, pamphlets that she wrote, and that's quite incredible-it's like hearing her voice echoing to you from across the centuries. Wollstonecraft knew she wasn't a perfect feminist, and she wrote about her struggles with staying true to herself, and evolving as she experienced life. Her continued relevance, 200 years after her death, is testament to the fact that she succeeded and came as close to perfection as one can! This is a fitting tribute to an iconoclast.

Mary Wollstonecraft, an 18th-century writer and thinker, was introduced to me last year through an event held by the British Library. Her life fascinated me, which led to further research, and I am not going to lie, I became a tad obsessed with books by her and written about her. If you haven't heard of Mary Wollstonecraft, you may have heard of her daughter, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

To say I was excited when I heard about Samantha Silva's novel is an understatement! Love and Fury has a dual narrative, presented through Mary to her daughter as they fight for their lives following childbirth and through midwife Mrs Blenkinsop.

From the get-go, I was emotionally invested in the authors magical retelling of Mary's fascinating life journey. Through her descriptive writing style, a vivid picture of Mary's journey came to life. Of course, I won't spoil the plot and tell you about all the events in Mary's life, though one of my favourite chapters was of her time in France during the french revolution.

I laughed and cried lots (don't I always!) and even winced at one point due to the unhygienic practices of the Doctor in Mary's care. I loved Mrs B's character, and she had her own compelling story.

Of course, I had to purchase a copy of Love and Fury for my collection. I rarely read a book more than once, but I know I will want to reread this story.! The author's debut novel Mr Dickens and His Carol also jumped into my basket.

Thank you, @allisonandbusby and @netgalley for kindly sending me the advanced reader copy for my honest review.

Love and Fury by Samantha Silva is a fictionalised version of Mary Wollstonecraft’s life as told by Mary to her newborn daughter (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) in the days between the baby’s birth and mother’s death. Admittedly, I know very little about the life of Mary Wollstonecraft beyond her fame and feminism, so I can’t comment on the historical accuracy of this version of events, however, the writing was beautiful, and I found myself struggling to put the book down. Mary lived a difficult life at times, coming from an abusive home and being desperate to find her own place in the world, equal to men and determined to obtain freedom for women beyond marriage and motherhood, she was years ahead of her time.

The storytelling from mother to daughter was unique and touching, she tells of her pain and struggles, of great loves and losses as well as her battle to remain true to herself and her values as she crafts her independent life. Overall, this is a wonderful tale and one which I recommend to anyone who like me, knows little about this incredible woman. It has definitely sparked an interest in me to learn more about Mary Wollstonecraft’s life and works now in more factual detail. Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for a digital copy for review.

This was such a stunning read - thank you so much to the publisher, author and netgalley for the review copy.

Mary Wollenstonecraft, ie. the OG feminist, has the most remarkable story and I feel like she is very regularly overshadowed by her daughter's great successes.
However, in her own right, her story was meant to be heard and I am so glad that Silva took the time to put her story into the world.
I loved the narrative style of this, explaining her life to Mary Shelley. I loved the backdrops, from Mitchelstown to Paris (honestly a sentence I never thought I would write...) what a strong, badass woman. I loved how she came across on the page as such an independent thinker, completely confident in herself, yet as the pages turned we got to see her be more vulnerable, and yet learn to find her power within that.

This book is definitely for fans of Hamnet and other such historical fiction books.
Overall I was fascinated by this book, and now want to get my hands on a copy of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman!!

I love Mary Shelly and her books. So, looking at the synopsis about this book, being about her and her mother, it was a must-read. And I enjoyed this fictionalized account a lot. The writing was engaging, the characters were well developed, well researched. I loved it. Highly recommended.
Thanks a lot for this copy.

Really enjoyed this book another take on the story of Mary Shelley and her mother.
I have read this author before and really liked her writing style, research and the 'feels' that she puts into her writing / books.

The title Love and Fury is very apt as you can feel it when you read it.

This is a fictionlised story of these two women and i had great time reading.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this :)

Love and Fury by Samantha Silva is about the feminist and philosopher, Mary Wollstonecraft. In retrospect, Mary tells her newborn daughter, her little bird, about her very eventful life. The book alternates Mary's life story with the book's present, told from the midwife's Mrs B.'s perspective. We get to follow Mary on her travels through Europe. From the English countryside to the Irish upper class, from the intellectual elite in London to France in the middle of a revolution and on up to cold Scandinavia. A truly impressive woman, with strong beliefs.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a woman before her time and a person in the history of feminism, who in my opinion gets too little attention. Her name is sometimes mentioned when talking about her youngest daughters, Mary Shelley, but she rarely gets to shine herself. I hope this book can change that. This is a great book about an astounding person. A must read.

I have studied both the work of Mary Wollstoncraft and amongst many loved the work of Mary Shelley (her daughter). In this interesting slant we are introduced to both at the point of Mary's birth. I liked the role of the midwife and how she is described as the conduit for Mary's hopes and of course the delight and despair that this birth would put on her life.
In light of the appalling statue recently unveiled to Wollstoncraft which did no favours to her as a woman or leading feminist I do hope many women (particularly younger) perhaps unfamiliar with her early role in fighting for women's rights back to centre stage.
Delicate and dramatic. A great read

I found this to be a brilliantly written and poignant read, allowing me to learn so much more about Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, who I ashamedly knew very little about. Not any more!!
The story is told through her eyes and those around her as she prepares to give birth to her 2nd daughter - both she and the girl are poorly so it's touch and go whether either or both make it through. Seeing the story unfold through the eyes of the midwife was also a great viewpoint. She's seen it all before in her work, but calm soon turns to nerves as things take longer to progress than they should and she finds herself spending more and more time at the house with Mary and becomes so involved with the family as she watches over her and the little one.

And as Mary lies battling poor health, she is telling her life story to her young daughter and what a story it is. It really gives you a great insight into just how tough things were for women throughout her childhood when nothing is expected of them, other than to marry and reproduce. But the young Mary had different ideas and was a wonderful trailblazer and it was inspiring to read her story and support her struggles. Despite society saying otherwise, she was always determined that women should be able to do what they wanted and not live a restricted life, just because of their gender.

She wasn't only fighting against society, but her family so you can't help but be in awe of her commitment and spirit. It never waivered and this book is a beautiful way of telling her story.

I thoroughly enjoyed Samantha Silva’s previous book Mr Dickens and His Carol and she puts another literary figure, Mary Wollstonecraft, at the heart of her latest book. The author sets the novel in the perilous days following the birth of Mary’s second daughter, whom she refers to as “little bird”. Encouraged by her midwife, Mrs Blenkinsop, Mary Wollstonecraft relates the story of her life to her sickly child. It’s a story of her fight for the education of women, for personal independence and for equality.

The author provides a parallel narrative from the point of view of Mrs Blenkinsop. Not only does this allow the reader to witness the days during which both mother and daughter struggle for life, but it reveals the discrimination Mrs Blenkinsop herself has experienced at the hands of men. In this case, it’s from doctors who believe themselves more knowledgeable in medical matters than she is despite her vast practical experience.

I confess that, although I had heard of Mary Wollstonecraft, I knew little about her life. It turns out to be a life full of struggle from the beginning, growing up in a family with a violent father who sees no value in educating his daughters. Fortunately, the young Mary encounters a few men with more enlightened attitudes. The first is John Arden, father of her childhood friend Jane, who lends her books and provides a little of the learning she denied to her by her father. As Mary puts it, he sees her “nothingness as something worth filling”.

Inspired to transform her beliefs in to practical action, Mary opens a school alongside her two sisters and her dear friend Fanny Blood, with the aim to educate girls to ‘think for themselves’. Anticipating by some centuries the campagins for female education in poorer countries around the world, she argues, “Reform the girl, reform the world”.

Later, London publisher Joseph Johnson recognises Mary’s talent for writing and publishes her first book. He also finds her lodgings and around his dinner table she is introduced to influential figures of the day such as naturalist Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles), poet William Cowper and artist Henry Fuseli. Johnson also employs Mary to write reviews of novels and I had to chuckle as I read her scathing comments on what she perceives to be the favourite female ingredients for a novel, which include ‘ridiculous characters’ and ‘improbable incidents’.

Attracted by the idealism of the slogan Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, Mary travels to revolutionary Paris but soon becomes disillusioned by the reality of what she sees. However, it is in Paris that she meets the men – businessman, Gilbert Imlay and journalist, William Godwin – who will become fathers to her two daughters. The first turns out to be a poor example of the male sex but Godwin proves himself to be a devoted father, as touching scenes in the book illustrate. Indeed, I would have welcomed witnessing more of the relationship between Mary and William which, even if not formalized in law, seems to have been a marriage of minds.

Throughout the book, Mary’s appreciation for the natural world shines through. For example, there are lyrical descriptions of landscape as Mary travels through Sweden and Norway on a ‘midsummer journey in the great, wild north’. Indeed, what she describes as ‘the healing embrace of the natural world’ enables her to forget for a time recent disappointments in her personal life and take up her pen once again.

Love and Fury is a fascinating insight into the life of a remarkable woman whose philosophy can probably best be summed up in the words given to her in the book. “Never be weak… Never submit, never cower… Struggle to the death with any obstacles rather than fall into a state of dependence.”

eARC kindly provided by Allison & Busby and NetGalley

This was a beautifully written book about an incredible woman. I was brought to tears in some points and smiled with joy in others. Mary overcame huge sadness and adversity in her life, and never let anything stop her from being 100% herself. She is a woman to be admired and hugely respected; I only wish her life had not been cut short so tragically when she was finally in a place of happiness and love.

I am so glad I read this book and would recommend it to everyone. It prompted me to go on and research Mary's daughter Mary Shelley, who clearly inherited her mother's strength and tenacity.

This was a wonderful book and I am so very glad I read it.

2.5 rounded up

The year is 1797 and Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft opens with Mary Wollstonecraft giving birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, with both struggling to cling on to life. The novel describes Wollstonecraft as 'the first feminist', and paints a nuanced but bleak portrait of being an early feminist and struggling for women's rights in the 18th century. The story is told through alternating chapters - between Mary Wollstonecraft and her nursemaid, Mrs. B, who tells the birth story from her perspective.

I found this to be an enjoyable but not exceptional piece of historical fiction, and one which would be good as an introduction to Wollstonecraft's life and views.

Mary Wollstonecraft fought for justice. equality and the chance to live life to its fullest.

This is an imagining of Mary Wollstonecraft’s life; the mother of Mary Shelley, and arguably the world's first feminist.
The book starts in August, 1797, when Mary's labour begins on a fine summer’s day. Her first birth had been quick and easy. She expected her second to be even more straightforward. However, after her baby girl, her second daughter, is delivered, both mother and child fight for survival.
The story proceeds as Mary weaves the tale of her life to bind her frail daughter close and to give herself a reason to fight, even as her own strength wanes.
The life she describes is exceptional. A life lived against the conventions and restrictions of her time, as she demanded equality for herself and all women.

This is a captivating insight into the life of Mary Wollstonecraft.
It is fascinating, heart-breaking, lyrical and poignant.

This is a wonderful book, that should not be missed.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All views expressed are my own.

I am one of those people who didn't really know anything of Mary Wollstonecraft prior to reading this book but now I am a fan and intend to read some of her work. She was clearly a pioneer and a trailblazer who was way ahead of her time. She was feisty and determined and very clever. This book made me fall in love with her a little bit.

I loved the way this book was written flipping between the retelling of her life story and the present day of her birthing Mary Shelly. It gave us a really strong fleshed out character that you can't help but find yourself rooting for.

I don't know how absolutely accurate some of the details of the time are but it didn't matter to me. I was absorbed in the story and the character of Mary that by the end of the book felt like a woman I knew and understood.

A definite 4 star rating from me

Thank you Netgalley and Allison and Busby for this ARC. Love and Fury is an absorbing debut that focuses on the life of pioneering women’s rights campaigner and author, Mary Wollstonecraft, and it takes the reader from her early childhood, marred by an oppressive father, through her escape and founding of a school for girls, to her intellectual rise and eventually to her tragic death in childbirth. Many aren’t aware that Wollstonecraft is the mother of the famous author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. It’s therefore a very effective device that the novel is framed around Wollstonecraft telling the story of her life to her infant daughter and passing on her feminist legacy to her before her death. But this novel is not just about Wollstonecraft as an intellectual and a firebrand, it paints a painfully human portrait of a woman who loved, lost, desired and suffered trying to live a life that was outside of the bounds of what society deemed acceptable for her. Ultimately Love and Fury is a heartfelt reminder of the trailblazing women who have come before us and the potential that they still have to inspire us even hundreds of years later.