Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was "a reflection of her parents". Literary genius was in her DNA. Her mother wrote of sexual equality, her father philosophized about political justice. Their views were discussed in radical social circles. Percy Bysshe Shelley often received writing suggestions from Mary's father, William Godwin. Shelley's father disapproved of his son's literary endeavors.

Sixteen year old Mary read Percy Shelley's political pamphlets and felt that they displayed "a conscientious purity of heart." Additionally, she was overwhelmed by the beauty of his poetry. For twenty-one year old Percy, "Mary has become his first thought on waking...his feelings for her are too strong, and he is bound-legally- to his wife, and must content himself with cultivating a philosophical friendship with this young genius."

"What we need is a revolution of ideas...that is my calling...I am a philosopher and, to an extent, a poet...". Percy had spoken out against "the tyranny of marriage...a contract of law...where there is bondage, there cannot be freedom...". Mary feels a "deep and profound connection...". "As humans we are blessed with choice and shifting inclination and yet we are enchained by custom. I won't live that way. And neither will Shelley.".

"The Aziola's Cry" by Ezra Harker Shaw is an extensively researched rendering of the relationship between two remarkable literary minds starting from their interaction in 1814, and up until Percy Bysshe Shelley's death in 1822. It is a travelogue of sorts, in six parts, with stops in Rome, Pisa, Bath, San Terenzo and La Spezzia. Without family support, Mary and Percy, always in debt, spend much of their time in Italy hiding from creditors.

Percy said, "I must write as best I can and trust that the world will understand me...To write with her beside [me]. To have a companion in creation is exhilarating". Shelley's talk of "a free community unhampered by the restraints of modern society...the prospect of free love, of a community without property, of intellectual development and equality between sexes", was a hard sell to book publishers of the time. Could Shelley find a publisher for his works?

In the year 1815, a visit to Lord Byron's Villa Diodati in Geneva, was life changing for Mary. Lord Byron enjoyed gatherings where ghost stories were exchanged, "Visions....of headless brides, of wandering corpses...the room charged with restless jumpiness." A ghost writing short story contest ensued. Mary's ghost story, once expanded, was published as "Frankenstein". Mary was just seventeen!

"Love is the greatest restorative power of the universe...[but] love is not a thing we ever attain. It is an ideal we chase, we chase it in our lives and we chase it with our words." Love, in all its forms, could not support an idyllic lifestyle for Mary and Percy. Their lives were filled with devastating loss despite occasional triumphs.

Author Harker Shaw creates a magnificent prose dialogue between two literary masters that reads like biographical fiction viewed through a lens of cyclic hills and valleys. A highly recommended read.

Thank you Colin Mustful at History Through Fiction and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderfully written book, so beautiful and poignant as well as being engrossing and emotional

I didn’t know all the things that Mary went through in her young years and this really opened my eyes to a favourite author

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book

Absolutely amazing, one of my most favourite reads of 2024 so far, the intimacy and romance that unfolds between the two is so touching and almost makes us feel like we're intruding on them at times.
The overall plot is so thrilling and every page leaves me wanting more! The choice of words from the author at times makes certain chapters on the the one hand either so incredibly captivating, or at other times, makes us hold our breath.
Recommending this to absolutely everyone!