The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844

Book excerpt: The definitive account of Mary Shelley's life from her own pen is now available in a single softcover volume. Here we see even more vividly than in her letters her sympathetic identification with nature and her struggles with--and ultimate surrender to--the lifelong depression that followed her husband's death. Supplementing the text are extensive annotations, a chronology, a thorough index, maps of the Shelleys' travels, portraits of acquaintances, appendices giving biographical accounts of the members of Mary Shelley's social circles in Pisa and London, the Shelleys' reading lists, and a bibliography.