If she were herself, Mary Wollstonecraft would feel sick as a dog from all the wine they have made her drink. Red wine to compensate for blood loss. But she is not herself. By now, she is half-ghost...
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The Blurb
The Hyena’s Daughter tells the far-too-untold story of a c19th sisterhood, the daughters of Mary Wollstonecraft: Fanny Imlay and Mary Shelley, the famed writer of Frankenstein, plus their step-sister Claire Clairmont, lover of Lord Byron.
Are they the three graces? The fates? They’re women, as alive and breathing and rebellious and analytical as you and me, and well aware and critical of the hemmed-in nature they’re expected to accept as women of their time – a time of “a new way of thinking, a new-world independence, a revolutionary world.”
It features their connection to Percy Bysshe Shelley – “how could we not love him, with his lofty ethics and words that flew like birds?” –and many of the other contemporary poets and thinkers of the time.
Pacy and assured, it turns its history to life from fragment to sensuous fragment. If the dead brought to life is to be Mary Shelley’s theme, this novella asks what the real source of life spirit is, the vital spark. This book, full of detail and richesse, is a piece of vitality in itself.”
My Review
This is an enjoyable novella about the daughters of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Most of us are aware of her middle daughter, Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. However, the two remaining daughters have remained in the background.
The youngest daughter, Clara Clairmont, is largely known as the wife of poet, Lord Byron. However, the eldest daughter, Francoise Imlay, also known as Fanny Godwin was unknown to me and for this reason I found her the most interesting of the three.
It is through Fanny that we really see how the role of the unmarried spinster played out during the 19th century. The book is full of detail and we get a real insight into the role of women in society at the time.
The book is written in short chapters and which move the book along at a fast pace. Much surrounds the scandal of Mary and Clara running away to be with the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Although the book is set in the early 19th century it felt very relevant. It addresses themes of sisterhood, family and the role of women. It considers what happens when people faced financial difficulties. For such a short book it packs quite a punch and my heart went out to Fanny in particular. To be the oldest daughter who remains a spinster was considered shameful. She also ends up as the go-between between her sisters and parents.
The book is an impressive and creative addition to our knowledge of the Wollstonecraft/Shelley/Byron canon of books. I enjoyed reading it very much and I highly recommend it.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1068176609
Publisher: Weatherglass
Formats: Paperback
No. of Pages: 200 (paperback)
Purchase Links
About the Author
Jupiter Jones is the winner of the Philip Hoare Prize for creative non-fiction and the Colm Toibin International Short Story Prize. She is the author of three previous novellas: The Death and Life of Mrs Parker; Lovelace Flats; and Gull Shit Alley and Other Roads to Hell.
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(ARC and media courtesy of the publisher)
(all opinions are my own)
(Bookshop.org affiliated)
