The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece - Hardcover

Montillo, Roseanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062025813 ISBN 13: 9780062025814

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 2013

Synopsis

Blending grotesque 19th-century science with literary creation, this fascinating volume, tracing the origins of the greatest horror story of all time, explores how Shelley and her contemporaries were intrigued by the occultists and scientists who risked everything to advance our understanding of human anatomy and medicine. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

Product Description:

The Lady and Her Monsters The macabre meets art in this startling blend of grotesque 19th-century science and fascinating literary creation that examines the actual Victor Frankenstein and the real-life horrors behind Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece, "Frankenstein." Full description

Review:

"With a flair for both drama and detail, Montillo breathes her own kind of life into the story of the men determined to discover its very elements."--Discover Magazine

"Spills the dirt on the making of the 19th-century novel--affairs, family drama, a lake house with Lord Byron!--and paints a grimly fascinating picture of the dissections and experiments in "animal electricity" that inspired the gothic tale."--Mental Floss

"Her narrative... rattles enjoyably through a lurid and restless landscape. ... Equally a literary and a scientific endeavor."--Wall Street Journal

"Montillo achieves a freshness through her lively narrative approach and a fascination with long-ago science and its ethics that sparks across the pages."--New York Times Book Review

"Montillo's book is a welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story."--The Commercial Dispatch

"A welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story."--The Lady and Her Monsters

"Montillo never loses sight of the fact that it was Mary Shelley's imagination that sewed the pieces together - and provided the vital spark that keeps the tale alive nearly two centuries on."--New Scientist

"A haunting picture of an era in which science and the arts overlapped, a perfect storm in which inspiration for "Frankenstein" could strike. Like a bolt of lightning."--Washington Post

Her narrative rattles enjoyably through a lurid and restless landscape. Equally a literary and a scientific endeavor. --Wall Street Journal"

Montillo achieves a freshness through her lively narrative approach and a fascination with long-ago science and its ethics that sparks across the pages. --New York Times Book Review"

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0062025813
• ISBN 13: 9780062025814
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 322