A strange macabre circle
—
Escaping Shelley’s London debtors, Mary is whisked to Geneva by Shelley along with her stepsister Claire Clairmont to join Byron, who at that point is yet to arrive. When he too joins the party with Dr Polidori, hidden—and not so hidden—attractions surface between them all and the very nature of each is revealed in public and in private. And then we come to the most famous event in Geneva: the stories. Will Mary be able to write the story that is bubbling up within her, or will the too strong emotions swirling around the whole party get the better of her?

Write what you know: if there’s one lesson in the world of publishing, it’s this; and Mary Shelley was surrounded by monsters, so that is what she chose to write about, what she had to write about. Lea’s disturbing book explores power, from Mary’s seeming lack of power to Shelley’s coercive hold over her, Byron’s negging versus Mary’s stepsister Claire who manipulates everyone around her, the desperate hotel owner who sells front row seats to the scandalous aesthetes, the locals at the mercy of season and weather: power and its lack drives every character in this modern yet historical novel of a woman reclaiming her own choices. Although based on fact, Mary’s fate in this book is a little too pat for me, which is why it’s only three stars, but worth reading for a fleshing out of this strange, macabre circle.

‘If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear’.

An atmospheric reimagining of the summer that created Frankenstein, the book captures both the haunting beauty of the Gothic and of Mary Shelley’s world. There is a powerful undercurrent of feminine rage throughout. How Mary, despite her brilliance, was still constrained by the men and expectations around her.

The characters are all deeply flawed, desperate, and yearning for love, much like Frankenstein’s monster. Their relationships and interpersonal drama is messy and compelling.
I was intrigued to learn more about Mary Shelley’s real life.

My only critique is that some chapters felt overly long and slightly slowed the pacing, but overall, this was a rich read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.
4/5 🌟

This book is brilliant. I’ve read all of Caroline’s books and they just keep getting better and better! Absolutely loved this. Caroline’s writing is fantastic. If you are a Frankenstein fan you will enjoy the glimpse into Mary Shelley’s life and the events leading up to the conception of her creature. Even if not a fan of Frankenstein, you will be swept away by Caroline’s brilliant historical writing. It’s so atmospheric, brooding, dramatic. I love the development of Mary’s character. I loved it as much as Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait. A brilliant book

Love, Sex and Frankenstein is Caroline Lea’s retelling of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and the traumatic events that led to the writing of her most celebrated work, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.

Mary shocked Regency society by having an affair with the married political follower of her father, Percy Bysshe Shelley. They ran away to France with her step-sister Claire for a time, but upon returning to England were ostracised and in constant serious debt.

The novel is set in the summer of 1816 – the pivotal moment when Mary writes Frankenstein. The trio are practically impoverished due to Percy’s mismanagement and gambling, and Mary has been cut off by her father. Still reeling from the death of their premature daughter, caring for their young son Willmouse and pregnant again, Mary and Percy flee to Geneva with Claire, to take up an invitation to stay with Lord Byron.

The romantic and sexual relationships between the four are complicated and full of tension – Byron had a short affair with Claire but is increasingly disdainful and cruel towards her. Mary realises Claire and Percy have betrayed her together, and the charming but vulnerable Byron becomes increasingly compelled by Mary.

The novel seethes with feminine rage – the culmination of many fractious relationships and betrayals throughout Mary’s life, as well as the tragic lot afforded to her as a woman, and even more so for living outside of society’s norms.

The storms and flooding around the villa where they’re staying add to the oppressive nature of the story – creating an intense atmosphere where Mary finally channels her anger and hurt into her seminal work.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is a fascinating person, and Lea’s feminist and gothic insight into that fateful summer is compelling and expressive.

Thank you to @michaeljbooks and @carolineleawriter for an advanced gifted copy for review. Love, Sex and Frankenstein is out now!

I don't know anything about Mary Shelley other than that she is the iconic woman who basically created science fiction. I read Frankenstein at school and remember enjoying it (as much as you can enjoy a book at school). I don't know how close to the truth of Mary's life this is, but I can say I loved it. I felt like the author really brought Mary to life, and throughout the story she really developed into the woman you would imagine Mary to be. Great character development all round actually.

I always forget how much I love gothic literature - this has reminded me that I need to seek it out more often. I loved the broody, atmospheric descriptions. They were just the right length to properly set the scene without going on and losing my attention. I loved the addition of the Frankenstein quotes at the beginning of each chapter too - like a reminder of the end goal.

Brb off to read Frankenstein again

Solid 4 stars for me which for a character driven book is huge! I will admit that the title and cover drew me in even though this wouldn't be my typical read and I'm so so glad I requested it. I will fully admit I am not familiar with Mary Shelley's life (but after this I will definitely be running to do some research) but this book did an excellent job of showing the depth of her anger and loneliness and all of the happenings in her life that led to Frankenstein.

The chapters are a bit longer in this which is a slight negative for me but that's purely personal preference along with the fact that I usually prefer more plot driven stories. I already know exactly which friends this is being recommended or gifted to. Thank you so much for this arc! Reviews to follow on GR/SG/IG

Caroline Lea's 'Love, Sex & Frankenstein' is an atmospheric and evocative gothic reimagining of Mary Shelley's tumultuous summer at Villa Diodati. The novel truly captures the emotional intensity of Mary’s relationships with Percy Shelley, her stepsister Claire, and Lord Byron, and works to weave a narrative that covers themes of love, betrayal, and creative awakening.

However, the novel's structure may challenge some readers as it did for me. There are frequent shifts between timelines in the first half which I found disrupted the narrative flow and made it a little difficult to follow. The character dynamics and interpersonal drama also, whilst compelling at times, derail and overshadow what I was most interested in - the exploration of Mary’s literary genius. The actual writing of Frankenstein is introduced later in the story which disappointed me as I was expecting a deeper dive into the novel's creation.

Overall, 'Love, Sex & Frankenstein' is a beautifully written novel that offers a fresh, reimagined perspective on Mary Shelley's life. For me, whilst its narrative structure and emphasis on personal relationships didn't appeal I think that readers who love a character driven story will truly love this work and will find it a compelling read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for a digital review copy of "Love, Sex & Frankenstein" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

The book we never knew we desperately needed until now. What a glorious, compulsive, gorgeously-written ode to one of history's most incredible writers and literary touchstones. Caroline Lea does total justice to her wonderful, pioneering protagonist, and turns a scathing (and timely) lens on some of literature's romantic behemoths. Female rage at its most compelling.

what a book! I loved, loved, loved Love, Sex & Frankenstein, the new historical Gothic novel from Caroline Lea. It’s her take on a real life event that happened in Geneva in 1816; the infamous summer that writer Mary Shelley, her lover the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (plus their baby, William) and her step-sister Claire Clairmont took a trip to Geneva to stay with the famed – and scandalous – poet, Lord Byron.

The legend goes that one evening in Geneva, they challenged each other to write ghost stories and this is where Mary Shelley got the inspiration for, and started to write, one of the classics of English literature, Frankenstein.

Love, Sex & Frankenstein gives us the point-of-view of 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Shelley), daughter of renowned writers Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin.

When she is 16, she becomes infatuated by the young (already married) poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. She becomes his lover, having two of his children by age 18 (her daughter sadly dies as a baby, a tragic echo of her own life as Mary’s mother died when she was a baby).

Plagued by debt in dreary London, Claire suggests Mary and Percy join her on trip to see her lover, Lord Byron, in Geneva. And it’s there that most of the action takes place.

The prose in Love, Sex & Frankenstein is just amazing. The way Caroline Lea brings all the characters, and their complex, overlapping relationships, to life was addictive to read.

I felt so strongly for all of these characters, Caroline Lea has imagined the toxic relationship between Mary and Percy so well, as well as framing Mary’s growth and realisation that she is allowed to express rage for all the things that have happened to her.

The fact that some of the events in Love, Sex & Frankenstein seem wild but all stem from things that really happened make this an even better read for me. Mary Shelley went through SO MUCH, so much heartbreak, she is such an interesting person. To say she lived several lives would not be an understatement.

Side note: Byron’s physician, Polidori, is also in Geneva (IRL and in this story), to maintain Byron’s drug habit, and he takes part in the ghost story challenge too, writing what is thought of as the first published vampire story, The Vampyre.

Love, Sex & Frankenstein is perfectly paced, exquisitely written and grounded in real historical facts – an amazing read.

Love, Sex and Frankenstein by Caroline Lea

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was born in 1797 to politician and writer William Godwin and his wife and fellow writer, Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote The Vindication of the Rights of Women where she claimed that women were not naturally inferior to men. Sadly Mary’s mother died only eleven days after she was born from puerperal fever, leaving Godwin to raise Mary as a single father. However, he remarried in 1801 to a widow with two children of her own, Clare being very near in age to her stepsister Mary. In 1841 Mary became connected to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a well-known writer who was already married with three children. Shelley was 22 and Mary was 16. Facing nothing but criticism and social sanctions in London, the couple decided to escape to the continent along with Mary’s step-sister Clare. They then settled for a time on Lake Geneva, sharing a house with Lord Byron and his doctor Polidori. As the weather changed they become snowed in for a period of time and one of the diversions thought up by Byron was that each of them write a ghost story. Up until this point, Mary has only written in her journal but she can feel something stirring within her and in this strange place, Frankenstein’s monster is born.

Probably every English Graduate who specialised in Gothic Fiction has fantasised about that stormy night, in a house on the edge of a lake near Geneva. That night was supposedly the genesis of the first vampire story - Polidori’s The Vampyre - and Mary Shelley’s classic horror, Frankenstein. It always seemed strange to me, how two iconic horror legends were conjured up in the same place on the same night. Yet, everything those writers experienced in their young lives is fuel for their creativity and the setting is definitely strange and unsettling. Caroline Lea paints a picture of the lake becoming monstrous. Something magical but evil too, and no longer the place where children paddle and dive to see how long they can stay underwater. The sky is dark, trees look like ‘funeral lace’ and ash rains down from above. Local people have noticed that at times the lake throws up strange shadows and clouds, some that look like sky cities floating in the air. When they find a man called Karl Vogel drowned in the lake with his eyes turned from brown to blue marble - they are shocked, but this is a place of transformation. It’s as if nature is creating the perfect circumstances for monsters to be born.

This incredible book. is a brilliant combination of historical and horror fiction, with a large side order of feminism - all of my favourite things. Every time I read this book I couldn’t help but say ‘wow’ and try to write down everything that struck me about the book. Now I have to try and put it in coherent sentences! Firstly the historical settings were incredible. When we first meet Mary and Clare, they are living in lowly lodgings in London after their return from Europe. Mary’s baby is born and they are desperately trying to avoid the bailiffs that seem to follow Shelley wherever he goes. The author really captures 18th Century London with the girl’s filthy lodgings a bleak place to look after a baby. They’re also struggling to sleep, worried that any moment their flimsy door will be kicked down. This is the reality of being the mistress and illegitimate child of a well-known poet who does not pay his debts and has retreated back to his family home. I never imagined that Shelley would leave her in this position. I’d imagined them living in the house on Lake Geneva complete with servants and all the excesses that Byron was famous for. Then travelling around Europe, leaving their troubles behind them. Their relationship would now be considered abusive, not just because of their age difference but because of the way Shelley manipulates her. Something that only worsens when Byron and his peculiar brand of chaos are on the scene. When Mary tries to stick up for herself, all the qualities he supposedly loved about her - her independence, her spirit, her intelligence - are thrown back at her, in order to control, manipulate and punish her. He calls her a good mother, but also accuses her of fretting and becoming boring. It is her independent spirit that landed her in Shelley’s arms but he’d rather she didn’t have the independence to question him, refuse him or leave him. His threat is very clear:

‘Women who leave their children, will never see them again’.

Of course it wouldn’t be Shelley giving up his carefree life to look after his child. He would rather hire a string of nursemaids to seduce then discard, until his only option is to dump his son on his long suffering wife who is pregnant again. Mary starts to realise that although he professes to love her, once she has become a mother she is always expendable. My urge to slap Mary’s step-sister Clare started early in the book and flared up very frequently. She has absolutely no girl code. She had left with Mary for Europe in the hope of rekindling a brief liason with Byron. However, it’s clear she’s happy to switch affections if he isn’t there, even onto Shelley. She flirts and simpers, touching his arm and holding his hand to guide her outside. Byron’s treatment of Clare is utterly cruel, he manages to ghost her even when they’re finally face to face. He refuses to acknowledge she exists and then refers to her as a loudmouth whose buttons one can’t help but press from time to time. He only picks her up again when the weather descends and there are no other prospects. It’s hard to like her though, especially when she gains snippets of information from Shelley only to drop them on Mary when they’ll hurt the most. The arrogance of both poets is endless! Byron isn’t just a seducer of women, he drinks and takes laudanum at every opportunity too. He abuses his supposed friend and doctor Polidori, considering him dull and mimicking his stutter in front of the women. Mary is quite astute and has realised that although Byron acts out, it’s like a child trying to distract from something. His own disability is never mentioned by anyone - the limping stride he’s had since childhood is overlooked or even compensated for as Mary notices some people unconsciously falling into step next to him, slowing their stride to match his. His impulsivity is like that of a toddler, moving mid-week from a hotel to the house on the lake, determined not to pay for the weeklong stay he originally booked. It will cost more for the hotelier to clean up after his bizarre animals, including two eagles, a huge dog and a monkey. He sets his sights on Mary and despite his magnetism she can see what he truly is - a boy throwing mud at windows to detract from his own badness and shortcomings.

The setting is glorious and it’s clear why frozen mountains, cavernous lakes and the arctic feature heavily in Frankenstein. It’s where Mary goes to have time to think, away from the chaos and hedonism indoors. The seemingly magical weather conditions are explicable, even though they feel supernatural. Lake Geneva is known for throwing up mirages called ‘Fata Morgana’. They take the form of distorted boats just above the horizon or even ‘castles in the air’, where a whole city seems projected into the clouds. Named after Morgan Le Fay the mirages are created by rays of light pass through air layers of different temperatures. They are common closer to the arctic where sheets of ice on a lake keep the surface air cooler than in the layers above. It’s easy to see why people might by unnerved by something that appears so otherworldly. A more psychological phenomenon that’s clearly takes hold within the house is ‘cognitive dissonance’, felt strongly by Mary in particular. The villa is starting to feel like a place she doesn’t belong because her emotions and reactions don’t seem to match anyone else’s in the group.

‘She feels like a stranger in the foreign land of this room, unable to understand their bright chatter and loud laughter […] every moment takes her further away from these awful people who carry on as if she isn’t there at all’.

Motherhood and the reality of being Shelley’s mistress has changed Mary. She wonders whether all women feel pulled in so many different directions at once. She also wonders if she ever had a true understanding with Shelley. A fire that lit up her heart and her mind is now glimpsed very rarely and she wonders if it ever truly existed. Has she fallen in love with her idea of Shelley - the one who creates the grand illusion of romance in his poems. He doesn’t love her, merely the idea of love itself. In disappointment with all men she turns to the wisdom of women, particularly her mother’s work. Mary Wollstonecraft was the first woman to write a feminist manifesto and she truly understood what needed to change for women - having to depend on a man. She realised that nurturing women’s learning was the first step:

‘Strengthen then the female mind by enlarging it and there will be an end to blind obedience’.

Women could only turn their back on men if they were educated and could earn their own living. In Mary’s dark night of the soul she heard her mother’s voice encouraging and coaching her and the minute she does Mary’s able to breathe again and see a clear way to support herself - by selling her writing. Once she can do that, it no longer matters whether Shelley is inconstant or distant - she does not depend upon him for security and stability. She is ashamed that despite her intellect she has allowed this man to reduce her. Yet she has to tread a fine balance and think these things rather than say them outright. She fears that Polidori’s friendship with the two men, means they have convenient access to a doctor. If she fully expresses what she feels might Shelley think her mad and seek to have her committed? Polidori could be the doctor necessary to corroborate their evidence. However, she is furious that she might be asked, yet again, to grant forgiveness to a man who is not sorry. She feels they have both taken and ruined such promising young women, not caring that the consequences of their actions will rest solely on the girl’s shoulders. She wonders what it must be like to take up space in the world, to believe it is your birthright as a man to dictate the temperature of every room they’re in. It is Byron’s arrogance that becomes her blueprint for a future self, allowing herself to angry and consequences to be damned. She wants to be more like him, saying exactly what she thinks without worrying about the outcome. In fact it’s also a dalliance with Byron where Mary seems to find more strength. It’s an uncomplicated exchange of desire, full of passion, but at no paint does he take anything from her. It gives her the strength to confront Shelley about returning to his wife in London and leaving both women at the mercy of debt collectors, out of sight and out of mind. She finds her voice and addresses Shelley as a man, rather than the great poet, making her feelings about his infidelity very clear, but also pointing out his cowardice and the times he hasn’t been there for her.

I loved the idea that her story of Frankenstein’s monster is stitched together by fragments, just like the monster himself. It starts with the processing of her own emotions and thoughts which then feed into the emotions of the abandoned monster. She then thinks of medical experiments and stories of medical students digging up bodies and stealing them for dissection. Then she has to give the creature an internal monologue, that’s ripe with emotions she has felt. Frankenstein leaves his monster just as Shelley left Mary and their baby in squalor. It’s a criticism of men, creating with no thought for the thing they’ve created, Victor Frankenstein goes to sleep expecting his creature to die and feels nothing. The creature feels a combination of Mary’s grief and abandonment, at losing her mother and then the loss of her father, a man who brought her up to have a rebellious spirit and think for herself, but rejects her when she lives by these principles. Mary is this bewildered and angry creature and that’s perhaps why she gives her monster the equivalent of philosopher John Locke’s tabula rasa - the blank slate of a small child ready to experience nature, love and all that is beautiful. She embodies the nature/nurture debate in that the creature isn’t born evil, it’s other people’s cruel treatment of him that makes him monstrous. Claire reminds Mary that she was a screaming, raging monster having been spoiled by her father. Her writing helps process all these feelings and. working through them makes her feel hopeful for the first time. She might return to London with her son and instead of being beholden to Shelley or her father, she could keep them both with her own writing.

Typically, blinded by his own arrogance Shelley doesn’t see himself in Victor Frankenstein at all. At first Mary thinks he’s feigning ignorance, but he genuinely can’t see his own reflection. He sees too much ambiguity in the story, thinking either the creature should make Victor look at his own shortcomings or she should make it so monstrous that no reasonable person would expect Victor to care for it. I loved the way she takes his criticism because it shows us how much Mary has grown up. She realises that at every stage on the way to publication there will be a man who wants to shout about his opinion. It doesn’t matter, because she knows they will all be mistaken. The book, like the creature at it’s centre, will be sent out into the wilderness looking for a creator. She’s fairly sure it will find one because she knows it’s special. Caroline’s book is an absolute masterpiece and made me think about Frankenstein from so many different angles. Caroline Lea’s Mary take us through the psychological angles and brings to life her relationship with Shelley, often told in a rather salacious or romantic way without any thought to the inequality between them, letting the reader trace the genesis of this incredible novel. It is stitched together from so many different parts, but here we can see them all and understand the circumstances they come from. What she’s written is a Bildungsroman, a novel of Mary growing up from girl to womanhood. Frankenstein is the chronicle of that birth, as messy, terrifying, horrific and momentous it is, it’s birth being the genesis of Mary Shelley the writer. .

An edited version will appear on my blog this week

This is one hell of a book. It’s about love, and sex, and Frankenstein, but also so much more.

Set in 1816, during the infamous house share on Lake Geneva with poets Byron and Shelley, this novel provides an intimate look at the interior life of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin as she rages about her plight, that of the sisterhood, and brings into existence her now famous work, 'Frankenstein'.

The biggest thing that stood out for me in this book are the sheer epic descriptions of female rage. Considering the many, many literary depictions we have of women during this period, it’s not just refreshing, it’s an absolute joy to read a woman feel and express emotions we can connect to.

And yes, Byron’s in it. And yes, the descriptions of him add a very enjoyable sultry undertone. But really, it’s all about Mary - losing herself, fracturing, rebuilding, and finding herself again. And I loved every minute of it.

The author, Caroline Lea, writes historical fiction based on true events so well. I also highly recommend her previous novel, 'Prize Women'. Somewhat different in tone, but no less enjoyable.

happy release day to this one!!

a solid 4 ⭐ for me

i loved frankenstein, it was my first classical book i read in the recent years and i had high hopes going into this one, i do have to admit, it took quite a while to get into the storyline and it feels like it took me forever to finish this book but it really picked up at about 60%

i really enjoyed this retelling, highly recommend! the characters were so interesting to read about & still not entirely sure who i felt worst for - i did think for a while that the frankenstein storyline was going to be pursued more in the doctor but maybe the hints & similarities were there on purpose! overall really good though!

thanks to netgalley, michael joseph / penguin random house & the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! <3

Thank you to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, the author and NetGalley for a DRC in return for an honest review

Caroline Lea is a new author to me. The first chapter alone was enough to make me want to read more of her work.

During the infamous summer of 1816, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Mary Shelley fleshed out her gothic creation, Frankenstein. Amidst a backdrop of global chaos due to the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. As the volcanic ash blanketed the sky outside, it mirrored the emotional darkness that engulfed those within Villa Diodati that ominous night. 1816 became known as the 'Year Without a Summer'. The volcanic eruption was catastrophic. It was so powerful it lowered global temperatures by 3 degrees, leading to significant crop failures and famines across North America and Europe.

This book reimagines the events surrounding the stormy nights and gloomy weather at Villa Diodati which led to the infamous ghost story contest from which Frankenstein was born.

A beautifully written and powerful novel and as origin stories go, this is one of the best.

#LoveSexFrankenstein #NetGalley

I’ve read three of Caroline Lea’s previous books, all of which I found interesting, so I was looking forward to reading her new novel about the life of Mary Shelley – although I have to admit, if I hadn’t already known I liked Lea’s work, the cover and title of this one would have probably put me off. I’m glad that didn’t happen because I really enjoyed it; it’s probably my favourite of her books so far.

The main focus of the novel is the events of 1816 – known as the Year Without a Summer due to the unusual weather caused by a volcanic eruption the year before. It’s also the year that Mary Godwin and her lover, Percy Shelley, travel to Geneva with their baby son and Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont. Not for the first time, Shelley’s debts have brought the bailiffs to their door and, tired of constantly moving around London to avoid them, Claire has seized the opportunity to persuade Mary and Percy to come to Switzerland with her to visit Lord Byron. Claire is convinced that Byron loves her and claims that he has been begging her to go and spend the summer with him at Lake Geneva but Mary, who is familiar with Byron’s reputation, thinks she’s deluded. However, in their desperation to escape the bailiffs, she and Shelley agree to Claire’s plan.

As they arrive at their hotel in Geneva, the foggy, oppressive weather mirrors Mary’s mood. She and Shelley seem to do nothing but argue and with no sign of Byron, Claire has turned her attentions to Mary’s lover, making no secret of what she is doing. When Byron finally does appear and the party start to spend time with him and his companion, John Polidori, at his rented home, the Villa Diodati, Mary hopes things will improve. However, the dynamics between the four of them only grow more tense and strained and Mary thinks of taking baby Willmouse and running away. Then, during a storm one evening, they gather to read ghost stories and, unimpressed, Byron issues a challenge: they should each write one of their own and see whose is best. Now Mary has something to focus on and during this difficult, emotional time, her famous novel, Frankenstein, begins to take shape.

Despite the title, the writing of Frankenstein forms only a small part of the book; instead Lea concentrates on exploring Mary’s state of mind in the period immediately before and during the creation of the novel. There’s some jumping around between timelines in the first half of the book as Lea tries to fill the reader in on Mary’s background, her childhood and the beginning of her relationship with Shelley, and I found it slightly difficult to keep track of things, but this became less of a problem later in the book when I had settled into the story.

Having read several other novels about the Shelleys and Lord Byron, I was interested to see how Lea’s portrayal of the characters would compare. As our protagonist, Mary is a complex woman but also a contradictory one. She has the strength and determination to repeatedly defy convention to be with the man she loves – the already married Shelley – while at the same time she feels trapped in her relationship with him and unable to escape. Shelley seems to love her in his own way, but is insensitive towards her and expects her just to accept his various infidelities. Mary’s relationship with Claire is equally difficult, continually switching between resentment and affection. As seen through Mary’s eyes, Claire doesn’t come across well at all in this book, flirting openly with Shelley in front of her sister then complaining when Mary later does the same with Byron. (For a more sympathetic view of Claire, try Clairmont by Lesley McDowell.) The portrayal of Byron is also largely very negative – he treats Claire appallingly, although we see a more tender side of him in his interactions with Mary.

This is definitely not a book with likeable characters, then, but the fact that they are all, like Mary, complex and contradictory is what makes them feel human and believable. It’s also beautifully written and I enjoyed reading it, despite not really learning much about Frankenstein!

Thank you to Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House) and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Being a woman is a monstrous thing"

Did somebody say female rage? Because this book brims with it!

Love, Sex and Frankenstein is a reimagining of Mary Shelley’s (author of Frankenstein) life with a rich gothic atmosphere and feminist undertones. It's beautifully written and completely character driven, full of longing, tension, and frustration that just completely pulls you in. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did, but once i started reading, I couldn't stop!

This was my first Caroline Lea book, and I have to say: she's a genius. She captures what it feels like to be a woman trapped by love, obligation, and a lack of choices masterfully. Mary’s relationship with Percy is painful, insidious, and often cruel. Watching her make herself smaller just to keep his affection, even when it's hurting her, felt frustrating and familiar all at once. (This book truly enraged me at times, but I'm guessing that was the author's intention)

The dynamic between the characters (Mary, Percy, Claire, and Byron) is messy in the best way. The emotional chaos of their conveniently put together household seeps into every page, and you can feel Frankenstein slowly taking root as Mary shapes her story. It is in essence what the title promises: Love, Sex and Frankenstein.

I recommend this one if you like historical fiction with gothic tones, complicated relationships, and a feminist undercurrent that doesn't feel heavy-handed!

Set during the famously stormy summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva, Love, Sex & Frankenstein dives into the messy, passionate world of a young Mary Shelley—before she wrote her iconic novel. She's grieving the loss of a baby, dealing with Percy Shelley’s cheating, and stuck in a lakeside house with her sister Claire and the magnetic, dangerous Lord Byron.

Caroline Lea does a brilliant job capturing the intensity of that strange, charged summer. The atmosphere is moody and dramatic—rain, ash in the air, emotions running high. You can practically feel the tension between everyone trapped in the villa. It’s dark, claustrophobic, and full of creative fire.

What makes this book stand out is how it shows Mary not just as a writer, but as a young woman wrestling with desire, betrayal, grief, and ambition. There’s a simmering attraction between her and Byron, and it’s clear how all that emotional chaos fuels the monster story she’s about to create.

If you like historical fiction with a gothic twist, complicated relationships, and a strong dose of feminist insight, this is definitely worth picking up. It’s haunting, sexy, and a little bit wild!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Men are the real horror story.

This was MESSY. Like, in a good way. I couldn't stop reading the absolute chaos of Mary, Percy, Claire, Lord Byron and Polidori. So frustrating.

The writing is beautiful, the character relations are insane and I feel extremely motivated to read more from people in Mary's life and find out more information about her. I think she is a true literary icon.

I always worry about reading fiction based on a real person who can't have a say but I think Caroline Lea did this in a very respectful and honouring way whilst also making it appealing to the masses who may not have read Frankenstein or even be aware of who Mary was

how one famed book came into being. well we are about to find out in the best of ways. this book was dark, atmospheric and oh so wonderful. both place,scene setting and plot were on point to give you all the feels all the way through.
we are told of the summer Mary Shelly birthed her monster. Mary has fled from life and its realities. she has fled with her lover and sister. she is young and reckless and showing her age completely. shes been hurt and so is making rash decisions and coming up with the answer she sees HAVE to be the answer to what haunts her.
but Lake Geneva doesnt appear to be giving her that respite or reprieve.
at the insistence of Lord Byron in his darkened over villa things take a turn. stuck in a storm he task each with writing a mystery plot. Mary is letting it all out. she is about to let the rage,loss and hurt all out.
such a spell binding novel. it had me holding my breathe and tense in moments i couldnt even tell you for why. it was woven with complexity and moving chapters that took me in and forced me to read more.
it was a delight in all the perfect dark and gothic ways.
the eerie feeling i had whilst reading was just divine and all you want when you dive into a book like this.

I thoroughly enjoyed how Caroline Lea opens with a prologue that felt almost dreamlike. That, followed by a handbrake turn into the street, sweat and squalor of poverty-stricken Mary Shelley struck me as a lovely bit of frankenstein-like writing. It worked a treat.

This historical novel felt very contemporary. As you might expect from the teenage author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is not your typical Victorian heroine. Mary Shelley was the daughter of feminists and philosophers of the time, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, which gives an interesting lens through which to explore feminine rage, wrongs and rebellion in a way that rings true centuries later.

Percy's treatment of Mary, insidious, cruel and diminishing, is its own horror. The toxic, intoxicating relationship that we all know as a great romance feels very familiar. We've all been or known a Mary as she convinces herself that disregard is mystery, that careless intimacy is passion, that contorting herself to suit his moods is love.

The stormy night of Frankenstein's creation is ripe for its own telling and Lea does a great job of bringing larger than life historical figures, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley back from the dead. Byron, in particular, jumps off the page. I also appreciated time spent with Mary's step-sister, Claire. She's another young person navigating adult situations whilst still coming to understand her own power and boundaries. She's a cruel brat which often masks her vulnerability and overrides people's concern for her. She's a teenager at a time there was no such thing.

The ending was fantastic. I thought I knew how we'd get to the end, but there were revelations and realisations still. Lea has created a thorny, modern gothic story that breathes new life into the myth surrounding the creation of Frankenstein. I highly recommend.

A smart, stunning twist on the creation of the birth of Science Fiction. I enjoyed this sparky little novel!