The biography draws upon an extensive collection of unpublished letters and journals provided by Sir Percy and Lady Shelley, tracing the ancestry, upbringing, and literary development of Mary Shelley. The narrative begins with the philosophical union and subsequent life of her celebrated parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, whose radical ideas profoundly influenced the intellectual climate of their generation. Particular attention is given to Mary's early years, her education, and the formative months spent in Scotland among the Baxter family, which nurtured her imagination and love for writing.
The narrative advances to the pivotal year of fourteen-eighteen, when Mary's quiet existence in Skinner Street was abruptly transformed by her acquaintance with Percy Bysshe Shelley. The book details the development of their mutual passion, the complexities surrounding Shelley's first marriage to Harriet, and their precipitous departure for the continent accompanied by Jane Clairmont. Through the medium of their joint journals, the biography recounts the hardships, poverty, and pedestrian wanderings through revolutionary France and Switzerland that marked the beginning of their union.
The subsequent chapters chronicle the return to England under conditions of extreme financial distress and social ostracism. Despite the constant pressure of creditors, legal battles regarding Shelley's estate, and the hostility of her stepmother, Mary pursued a rigorous course of study. The narrative records the birth and tragic loss of her first infant, the circle of faithful friends such as Thomas Jefferson Hogg and Thomas Love Peacock, and the gradual evolution of her literary ambitions culminating in the composition of Frankenstein during their rainy summer at Geneva.
The biography describes the return to England, the renewed financial demands from William Godwin, and the dark tragedy of Fanny's suicide. It documents the resolution of their difficulties through Shelley's inheritance, the tragic death of Harriet, and their subsequent legal marriage. The narrative follows their domestic life at Marlow, the bitter Chancery decree depriving Shelley of his children, and the birth of new infants amidst a constant influx of literary visitors and intellectual discussions.
The later portions of the work detail their second departure for Italy, the loss of their children William and Clara, and the wandering existence among the Italian lakes and cities. It portrays Mary's literary industry in producing Valperga alongside Shelley's composition of his major poetic works. The biography concludes with the arrival of Edward and Jane Williams and Captain Trelawny at Pisa, the fateful move to the Casa Magni on the Gulf of Spezia, and the sudden, fatal storm that ended Shelley's life.
