A review by ashkitty93
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon

dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.5

While I appreciate the compare/contrast element of this dual biography, I have to wonder if it wouldn’t have worked better as a 2-book set - not in the least thanks to both mother and daughter being named Mary, so if I zoned out at all I was in danger of forgetting which of them I was following along with. Coupled with the choice to only use a single narrator on the audiobook makes it just about as confusing as it could be. All that aside, the final chapter pulled a lot of threads together; this was an excellent book and a solid look at both women. I’m making a point to read Wollstonecraft’s actual writings sooner rather than later. 

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that even as late as the 1980s, scholars still weren’t keen on viewing Mary Shelley through the lens of her own work and merit and rather preferred to describe her first as PBS’s wife, then the daughter of Godwin and Wollstonecraft, and finally to discuss Frankenstein as more of an afterthought. How lucky are we to live in a world where she is recognized and lauded for being her own person.

Charlotte Gordon’s writing was quite accessible and compelling. Nicely read by Susan Lyons.