What a wonderful work of historical fiction depicting the unique relationship between Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley) and Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was obvious that the author, Ezra Harker Shaw did a tremendous amount of research prior to writing this well written and well thought out, captivating book.

In 1814 Mary, an intelligent and brilliant teenager, fell in love with Percy Shelley. He was a married man, and she was sixteen years old living with her family. Both went against societal norms and family demands and expectations and ran away with Mary’s stepsister Claire. They lived an unconventional life, full of romance, debt, challenges, tragedy, loss, adventures, good friends, and free love.

Both had a shared passion for writing and enjoyed their relationship with Lord Byron. Both will go on to become brilliant writers and authors. Mary will write the literary classic, Frankenstein: by Mary Shelley and Percy will write Poetry and essays.

I enjoyed how this book was broken up into different titled parts. Readers are given a glimpse in these literary giant’s lives, their love, their tragedies, their pain, their conquests, their travels, and their wandering lifestyle. I enjoyed the writing, the drama, the descriptions, the characterization of the writers/authors in this book, and their romantic yet tragic lives together.

Beautifully written, impressively researched, and expertly presented.

“Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin” “…what an extraordinary young woman you are.”

I’ve read both Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelly’s work, and as a result, I’ve loved English literature throughout grad school. I considered focusing my thesis on Mary Shelley, I ended up writing Dante and Rodin.

Most of what I’ve studied was the literary canon. I latched onto “Frankenstein” like a dog to a bone. I also read Mary Wollstonecraft ``A Vindication of The Rights of Women”. I actually found portions of the essay humorous.

I'm not a reader that enjoys romance novels. Yet, Mary and Percy’s love was a pleasure. I enjoyed this novel very much. A great deal of emotions were felt throughout the novel. Plus, the couple lived an unconventional lifestyle.

I appreciated that the novel was well researched, and the reader does not have read the works of Mary and Shelley. Perhaps the reader will become curious about their works. There was so much information for readers who are not familiar with Mary Shelley. But not too much backstory for the Frankenstein fans.

I enjoyed this novel very much, I appreciate that the novel was well researched. There was much information for readers who are not familiar with Mary Shelley. But too much for the Frankenstein fans.
Much emotion throughout the novel

I admired Ezra Harker’s storytelling. The author created a novel that appeals to readers that reads this novel as historical fiction and the reader that are familiar with ‘Frankenstein’.

Thank you Ezra Harker Shaw, OpenBookDesign.Biz, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the novel and I’ve written an honest review.

The Aziola’s Cry is as mournful and haunting as Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem about the ‘little downy owl’. Crafted around the years the Shelleys spent together, 1814-1822, Harker Shaw’s biographical fiction focuses on how those years may have contributed to literary conversation and collaboration between the two intellectuals.

In 1814, twenty-one-year-old Shelley declared undying love for the brilliant sixteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft. Refusing to be encumbered by the strictures of British society, Mary wholeheartedly agreed to become his mistress (Shelley was married, although estranged from his wife at the time). Shunned by her outraged family, Shelley, Mary, and her stepsister, Jane (Claire Clairmont), left for the continent. For Mary there was no other option. Shelley was her destiny, the mirror to her soul.

Their peripatetic lifestyle was dogged by financial insecurity, tragedy, and loss, one event after another. Mary, wrapped in her unspeakable grief, became distant, unable to give of herself, and concentrated instead on her writing. Shelley, who craved her companionship like the air he breathed, found some comfort in other pursuits.

Harker Shaw’s Shelley is a conflicted soul, slandered in England as an atheist, a revolutionary and a writer of immoral works. His fear that no one would ever read his words overrode his wish to contribute to the betterment of mankind. Mary was a consistent stabilising force for his inner torment. Harker Shaw’s first-person narrative is a spell-binding historical account, an enduring ode to the terrible price the Shelleys paid for their love―a viscerally painful story of unrelenting loss. Pages are haunted by an overriding sense of fate. Magnificent descriptions of violent storms foreshadow the future. Periods of happy bliss alternate with overwhelming grief and melancholy. Harker Shaw sticks very closely to historical fact, which could become tedious, yet this emotionally stirring love story is a work of beauty I won’t soon forget.

A very informative and realistic-feeling presentation of the lives Mary Godwin Shelly and Percy Shelly. I've long been fascinated with the origins of Frankenstein and Lord Byron's connection to the Shelly's. This book provided an intimate view of their lives and of the tragedies that Mary endured. I was particularly struck by the very clear and concise descriptions of the natural world, particularly in the second half of the book. I understand that the author may be writing a sequel that presents the rest of Mary's life. I certainly hope so.

My thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

This novel definitely hits the mark for the publisher’s intent of teaching history through fiction but I lost interest pretty quickly.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.

I’m leaning more towards 3.5. The book is so creative, and I enjoyed the poetic parts, but overall I was struggling to connect with the story, tho I wanted to love it.

The Aziola's Cry tells the relationship between poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Both embody what the Romantic movement entailed: rejecting social conventions like traditional marriage and religion; living through passion and instinct, as well as traveling to exotic locales to experience what earlier civilizations, like the Greeks and Romans, taught about life, philosophy, art, poetry, etc.; and exulting in the glories of Nature. The Shelleys suffer for living through their passions as their families cut them off when they run away together, and heartache seems to haunt them at every turn through their time together. Instead of triumphantly showing how to live successfully by living by one's own rules, the Shelleys act out their own tragedy.

Ezra Harker Shaw does a fantastic job of writing in the tone of the time period while still keeping the story modern enough for non-Romantic scholars to enjoy. Portions of Shelley's poetry is interwoven into the narrative to give the novel a flavor for his poetry without being bogged down by long passages that would require footnotes that might be unappealing to some readers. The artist's craft is also discussed and makes the novel interesting to read for creative writers. The history of the time period is brought to life as are the foreign locations that the pair travel to. Even if readers are not familiar with the Romantics at all, this finely crafted novel gives a three dimensional atmospheric look at what life was like in the early 1800s and can be a counterpoint to fans of Jane Austen's novels which were printed around the same time.

"men do not have hearts like we women do.......and yet we are compelled to love them,! So says Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.
Compelled to love Percy Bysshe Shelley when she is a teenager despite warnings about him and his 'marriage' with a child causes scandal amongst the society into which the Wollstonecraft/Godwin names are already entangled.
I did know quite a bit about their lives so was interested to see if the author put a new spin on the tale. Sometimes there were points of interest with respect to the introduction of Shelley's verse - especially The Aziola which begins the book and in which Mary is referenced.
However I did feel the real characters were often described in their stereotypes - particularly Byron. I worked for a while at Byron's Gothic home - Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire- and learnt a lot about him and his life. Much of this argued against his wild reputation and of course being 'mad, bad and dangerous to know. I think there could have also been more description about the scenery and locations especially the famous gathering in Geneva at Villa Diodati where the guests are encouraged to "Let us have another ghost story," and of course Mary Shelley's famous novel Frankenstein is born.
Menage a trois and tragic deaths seem to pursue famous poets and the tale of Shelley is no different. He was always in debt profligate with money and with women. I disliked him even more after reading this!
But of course it is the work - poems and novels that endure. I wonder what Mary's mother would really have thought of Shelley? Much less than her daughter I think.

Thoroughly well researched, with beautiful and elaborate writing, but rather slow moving.

I suspect this would be perfect for those loving the Shelley's, their history and slow, descriptive prose, but this just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thisis without a doubt the most beautifully written prose I have read in a long time, perhaps ever.

The Aziola's Cry follows the extraordinary love story of Percy and Mary Shelley and posits how two remarkable young people encouraged each other to create stunning works that would inevitably affect the literary world.

It is apparent that The Aziola's Cry was a labor of love by someone who not just cares about the Shelleys but also cares about telling their story as honestly (emotionally and factually) as possible.

The Aziola’s Cry by Ezra Harper Shaw tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley and their unconventional relationship. The story begins with their meeting when Mary is 16 and ends with Shelley’s drowning in Italy. It follows them through their broken relationships with family, financial troubles resulting from those relationships and a society that loathed the unconventional ideas espoused by Shelley and His circle of friends and fellow poets, and through the personal tragedies that Shelley and Mary experienced in raising a family. The writer’s treatment of their complexities takes the readers through laughter, disbelief, and sorrow at the hardships they endure.

Harper Shaw’s writing is worthy of the Romantic writers with their emotional, detailed, and realistic imagery. The novel is a trip through England , the continent, and then finally Italy , all the while in the company of sympathetic characters with beautiful settings.

I am grateful to NetGalley for this copy of The Aziola’s Cry in return for an honest review.

This uses the historical fiction element perfectly, it had everything that I was looking for. It uses Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley perfectly and enjoyed how everything worked in the time-period. I enjoyed the romance between Mary and Percy. It had a strong story and I was engaged with the story overall. Ezra Harker Shaw writes a great concept and left me wanting to read more like this.

Suffering is for the living .

I loved this! You can really tell that the author took time in researching about the Shelley’s and it shows. The way grief is discussed and shown through the book, is amazing every character has a unique way of expressing their feelings. I was really surprised at how much I felt for this family. I would recommend this book if you love Frankenstein as much as I do.

Looking forward to reading more from this author.

NetGalley Review-Thank you

The prose was beautiful and I had a really good time with this historical story. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a review.

A great read for lovers of Historical Fiction. Really interesting to read more about the lives of Mary Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. They chose to live their lives differently from the norm but they lived for love. Couldn't put this one down.

An outstanding piece of Historical Fiction and my favorite read of 2024 thus far.

Even if you’re familiar with the lives of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, this is an opulent and evocative portrait of their lives, and a fascinating window into how they collaborated and interacted with one another’s work.

Ezra Harker Shaw has done an incredible job of piecing together thorough and accurate research on their subjects and integrating it with imagined dialogue and musings of their own. It’s an impressive and successful attempt to get inside the heads of the Shelley’s, most specifically in terms of what inspired their writing and how they inspired and influenced one another.

The Shelleys’ story is a heartbreaking one, but it’s also a gorgeous story of devotion, mutual respect, and perseverance. And while we know they were both stunningly gifted writers, I think we can now safely say that Harker Shaw is a gifted writer in their own right as well.

This reads unusually quickly for the genre, doubly so when you factor in all the lush description that really makes the novel feel immersive. It’s my understanding that Harker Shaw is working on a follow-up project to this one about Mary’s life after Bysshe’s tragic death, and I absolutely cannot wait to read it.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book!

I absolutely adore the poets from the Romantic era, so I was intrigued by this book which is a work of historical fiction about Mary Godwin and Percy Shelley.
It’s clear that the author put a lot of research into this book and captured the gothic melancholy surrounding these two writers. But I have to be honest, this book just wasn’t for me.
I was difficult for me to connect to the characters and I think that was largely due to the pacing. I felt like I was being pulled along and told the story of what happened rather than experiencing it alongside the characters.

"The Aziola's Cry" by Ezra Harker Shaw offers a nuanced portrayal of the complex relationship between Mary and Percy Shelley, spotlighting their imperfections and the adversities they faced together. Their romance, far from idealized, is depicted with a raw honesty that highlights the struggles and turmoil within their partnership. Shaw's writing is both well-crafted and thoroughly researched, bringing depth to not only the central figures but also the surrounding cast, although the narrative occasionally feels prolonged.

This historical fiction spans from the couple's initial meeting in 1814 through to Percy's untimely death in 1822, charting their journey across various locales such as Rome, Pisa, and more, all while evading debtors due to their precarious financial state. The novel explores Percy's radical ideas about society and his challenges in finding a publisher who would embrace his forward-thinking views.

Shaw masterfully captures the essence of the Shelleys' lives and literary dialogues, crafting a story that feels akin to biography and not fiction.

my thoughts while reading this book: why was this so romantic yet so tragic? how can something be so sad and be so beautiful at the same time? when was the last time i read an excellent book?

i’m actually going insane, i just finished the book as i’m writing this review. it shattered my heart into pieces.

the aziola's cry is a historical fiction about the tragic love story of Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) and her husband Percy Shelley (author of Mont Blanc) as they seek to express themselves freely while also striving for literary greatness. it discusses about motherhood, and the effect of literature on one's intellect, soul, and existence. It's about forbidden love, passion, death, resilience, and more. this book made me feel strongly attached to the characters; it was sweet but tragic, something that makes it such a good and devastating piece of literature.

THE WRITING!! I would marry every prose and poem in this book if I could. the writing was so lyrical, romantic, brilliant, adventurous, and captivating. I adore it so much. the writing made the book a hundred times better for me; I annotated a lot of prose, quotes, poems, and passages! I believe that if you delight in classics and/or specifically Frankenstein, you will love this because this book also mentions Mary Shelley's inspirations in creating a masterpiece. this book felt like a classic to me, and if possible, I would love to see it shelved alongside other classic literature.

i'll be ending this review here as I don't want to say much about it yet because it's an ARC, and I'd love for you to read it for yourself when it comes out on May 7, 2024! i’ll definitely get a physical copy of this book. I'll annotate it and maybe think as to how a story can be written with so much thought and effort, making it so magnificent.

a big thank you and congratulations to Ezra Harker Shaw for this stunning book ! as well as NetGalley ! i can’t wait for it to be published and be loved by other readers like me!

The Aziola’s Cry tells the love story of Mary and Percy Shelley. I really like how the author has shown the flaws of Percy and Mary. Their love story wasn’t perfect. Instead, it was very challenging. Thus, this book showed the turmoil that both Percy and Mary faced. The story was very well-written. I thought it was meticulously researched. The other characters were fully developed. The only thing I did not like about this book was that it tended to drag at times. Nevertheless, I recommend this for fans of Her Lost Words, Her Determined Heart, and Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein! Full Review to come closer to Release Day!