A super interesting premise, but I felt that this novel fell a bit short! While I enjoyed the writing and felt the characters were well written, the plot moved a bit slowly. However, despite this, I still really enjoyed reading it and found certain passages really beautiful. A great read, especially for this time of year.

I really wanted to like this, I recently watched a documentary on this subject and was looking forward to reading a fictionalised telling.
Unfortunately I couldn't get into this at all, I'm not sure why but I struggled to read this for longer than a few pages, the story jumped about in random places, the narrative felt disjointed and to be honest it was a bit of a slog to finish.
It's clearly a well research book and I could see what the author was going for but unfortunately I wasn't the right reader for it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read and review this book.

The dark atmosphere was a stand out for me in this book, which brings back the tale of one of the most famous literary characters I'd all time. A compelling read.

Given the subject I thought I would love this book but I didn’t get on with it. I just couldn’t connect with the story or the characters and felt bored a lot of the time. For the story that was being told I just didn’t find it very compelling

Thanks to NG and the publisher for this arc

I have read several non fiction and fictional accounts about the Romantic poets and the "Famous Five" challenge in the past and also books about Mary Wollstonecraft and her equally famous daughter, Mary, which this story is about. So, for me, some of this story tread pretty familiar ground. I still enjoyed this book. The story it tells is very engaging. I love the dark, foreboding atmosphere and how the narrative highlights the ways in which the women in the group are treated as sex objects and goaded into competitive behaviour by the men who undermine and dismiss the talents of the women, especially Mary who is only 19. The book is a great, fresh retelling of a still interesting and relevant story.

Frankenstein is one of my favourite novels. I was quite skeptical to read a reimagination of it but I really enjoyed it and felt immersed in the dark world that it created.

This brings to life very nicely the famous five, and the challenge that lead to the birth of Frankenstein.
The part set a few years earlier , weaves in parts of the now so very well known book, that I couldn't help but go "ah, I see" to myself a few times. 😄

It also brought home how very young Mary was, how annoying Clare was, and really how self indulgent they all were.

A most enjoyable few hours.