Love, Sex, and Frankenstein: A Novel

An evocative, haunting retelling of the summer that should have broken Mary Shelley, but instead inspired her to write her masterpiece.

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, 1816: the dark summer that birthed a monster.

Eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. Tormented by Shelley’s betrayals, haunted by the loss of their baby, and suspicious of her sister’s intentions, Mary seeks a refuge.

But Lord Byron’s villa, lying under ominous, ash-...