The Determined Heart by Antoinette May
This is the story of Mary Shelley, who we know best as the
author of Frankenstein, and the wife of the poet Percy Bysshe ( sounds like “dish” ) Shelley. Mary is the daughter of William Godwin and
Mary Wollstonecraft and was raised in an atmosphere of free, and for that time,
radical thinking.
Mary is just a child when she first meets Bysshe and not
much older, just in their middle teen years, when they fall in love and take their life
together into their own hands. But
Bysshe is already married and a father and not surprisingly this complicates
their affair. The two run away, the
story says they eloped, but there was no marriage for many years. In that time the two are beset with
bankruptcy as a reaction of society and Bysshe’s family to the abandonment of
his wife and child. The couple are
wanderers looking for acceptance and a place to call home, all the while with
Mary’s step-sister in tow. And Mary must
stand back and watch as Bysshe has an affair with her stepsister even as she
captivates all who meet her.
The story of Frankenstein is the result of a group of bored
poets and writers looking for some excitement in telling scary stories. Mary’s story finds a basis in her free
thinking upbringing, her conversations with scientists, old folktales and her imagination. It brings her recognition as an author in her
own right but the price she pays for her recognition and independence is high
indeed.
