Oh! I knew I was going to love this but I did not expect to be bawling like I was. I was in the gym on the machine crying over a book! People probably thought it was particularly amazing workout.
I don't even have the words to describe this one. It is so beautiful and so heartbreaking all at once.
The narration was absolutely perfect for the story too. It was an amazing production.

MARY was an interesting read, a reimagining of two parts of Mary Shelley's life - as a teenager living away from home for the first time for her health and as an adult (and a mother) in the summer that led to FRANKENSTEIN.

This is a gothic historical. It does the slow creeping atmosphere very well. There is clearly something wrong. It comes across a bit more clearly in the gothic sense in the teenage years, while in the adult summer it's more a "these people are dysfunctional and so it's the relationships around her that are wrong." It's a nicely atmospheric read.

The two parts did feel a bit disjointed, and like there wasn't a clear conclusion to the teenage years. There was no confrontation with Booth, a minor argument with Isabella that simply leads to "we didn't talk." It felt like there was no pay off, no resolution. She leaves them when her time is up and that's it. The summer of Frankenstein hardly refers to the past either, making it feel even more separate. Overall, it left me feeling unsatisfied by that part of the book.

The summer of Frankenstein was more satisfying because she does write the book in the end. It's a small thing - there's any number of arguments she could have had with characters that might have been more of a conclusion to get it out there. Mary is a character who seems to just take things as they are and not fight for herself ever. However, she gets this small victory of a novel when the boys can't.

If you go into this book disliking Percy Shelley already, the book will not disabuse you of that. If you are ambivalent toward him, you will loathe him by the end. He is an odious, selfish man who thinks of Mary as always there so never something he needs to concern himself with, not bothering to give her attention until he wants something from her. (By contrast to Percy, Byron - or "Albie", as he's referred to here - seems rather nice and pleasant, and not much of a womaniser!)

This is the sort of book I wish came with a historical note. I wanted to know what was based on real events and what was an elaboration - the acknowledgements mention that there are deviations and inventions but not what. I would have liked to know where those were, to get a sense of how the story grew (and what bits were real.)

The audiobook narrator was great so I recommend listening to this novel if you have any interest!

This author’s books have the ability to simultaneously make you unable to stop reading while wishing you could bury the book somewhere deep underground where it can't be found. Compelling and didn’t want it to end!

DNF - this book really wasn’t for me, not sure if something got lost int translation but I just didn’t like the writing

4 star rating:
3 star for story
5 star for audio narration and recording

Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for an audio review copy of "Mary or The Birth of Frankenstein", narrated by Anna Burnett, in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

I was incredibly excited to be offered the chance to review this novel by Bolinda Audio as the life of Mary Shelley and the writing of Frankenstein are areas of literary history that hold a great deal of interest for me. With this being gothic tinged historical fiction I truly hoped to be in for an engaging and enjoyable listen.

The story focuses on two periods of Mary Shelley's life - time spent in Scotland in 1812 and the famous summer 1816 when, in Geneva with Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and her stepsister Claire Clairmont, she started to write Frankenstein.

The story tells of young, blossoming sapphic love in 1812 when Mary falls in love with her host's daughter Isabella and also of loss, the loss of that love when Isabella marries the 'monster' Mr Booth and the loss of a child, Mary and Percy's infant premature daughter who died before the events of the 1816 timeline.

This love and loss and the tradition of storytelling in her social circles, plus power of imagination and folk stories all build the story in this novel to show how Mary utilised all of these elements to help create her most famous and beloved monster story.

I felt that this novel was extremely dreamlike and fluid, slipping between scenes and timelines, each echoing elements of the other to show us how Mary has grown and been influenced by the people and environments around her.

These references to dreaming and slipping out of focus did get a little tiresome and repetitive at times, as I never truly felt able to get a grip on the motivations of the characters or where the story may go. It felt like it was a convenient way to skip details but it was also an effective way to create that eerie, gothic atmosphere adding a sense of instability, gaslighting and unreality to the mix.

I've never listened to an audiobook narrated by Anna Burnett before but I felt that her voice and style was very well suited to the dreamlike fluidity of the story narrative. Her voice felt extremely well suited to the historical period as well as the youth of our characters and she effectively created the gothic, confusing atmosphere that unravels in the later half of the novel.

The audiobook really did consume me and the short chapters with mixed timelines meant that it moved quickly and was a truly enjoyable listen. The story however didn't leave me feeling satisfied. I have qualms about fictionalising trauma events of real people (I recently didn't finish Bright Young Women for the same reason) as it feels a little exploitative and potentially puts words and actions onto people that they may never have thought/felt/done.
That said this is handled better than other books that I've read and the writing is a lyrical, beautiful daydream that perfectly evokes images of a gothic Georgian society driven and drawn by stories, folk tales, ghosts and monsters.

I think fans of Weyward will enjoy this and I highly recommend the audiobook version as that really is a 5 star performance for a 3 star story.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, Eekhout perfectly captures the writing style of her subject matter - at once diary/epistolary and incredibly atmospheric, elaborate and slow-paced. On the other hand, this is not really a style that reads well in modern prose. As an audiobook, at least, this style works well! It is easy to listen to and really subsumes you. The narrator really brings you into Mary's head with their voice and tone. The creeping sense of loss and instability were also really well seeded throughout the book. Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about novelisations of real life events in general, especially when it comes to adaptational sexuality - but of all I have read, I think this book handles it as well as could be achieved..

“They have been here two weeks now, in Geneva, and ever since they arrived, storms and thunder have performed a frenzied ritual almost every day. Mary loves it when the sheet lightning persists, stretching like a cat and lighting up the skies for seconds at a time, painting it a pale purple, as if it were a canvas”

My thanks to Bolinda Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Mary, or the Birth of Frankenstein’ by Anne Eekhout. It was translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson. The audiobook is narrated by Anna Burnett.

This work of literary historical fiction unfolds over two timelines. The first is Geneva in 1816 where 18-year-old Mary Shelley and her lover Percy Shelley, along with her stepsister, Claire Clairmont, spend the summer in a villa close to the poet, Lord Byron (Albe) and his friend and doctor, John Polidori. It is here where Lord Byron challenges everyone to write a ghost story and Mary ends up creating ‘Frankenstein’.

The second timeline is set in the summer of 1812. Mary is sent to Dundee to spend the summer with the Baxters, friends of her father. Mary finds herself falling in love with the enigmatic Isabella Baxter. Isabella relates to Mary tales of mythical beasts, witches, and spirits. In addition, the Baxter family have a tradition of gathering for monthly storytelling sessions, echoing the events in Geneva.

In 1816, Mary remembers that summer as well as the death of she and Percy’s infant daughter. Fuelled by longing, grief, and laudanum, the seeds of her story take root.

There is a dreamlike atmosphere to this novel that also calls into question Mary’s memories of her time with Isabella, though she might also be the victim of gaslighting. It’s left ambiguous.

Anne Eekhout’s writing is elegant and lyrical as she slowly builds up her characters and moves between the two periods. I was pleased that she opened her novel with a list of characters as it proved quite helpful, especially for the Scottish sections.

While I had read a number of books featuring Mary Shelley, usually her story begins when she first meets Percy. So it was interesting to learn about her earlier life and especially the time in Dundee.

With respect to the audiobook, while Anna Burnett has only narrated a few titles, I have listened and enjoyed her readings of ‘The Illusions’ and ‘The Secrets of Rochester Place’. Her voice is light and clear and well suited to the period setting of the novel and the youth of its titular character.

Overall, I felt that Anne Eekhout had a great deal of empathy with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Throughout ‘Mary, or the Birth of Frankenstein’ the youth of Mary is quite evident. It is an atmospheric novel that celebrates the Gothic tradition.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore Frankenstein and with that, Mary Shelley too. I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I am with fictionalising (is that a real word?) someone's life especially when it relates to pregnancy and death of children.
Ignoring my concerns with that this was written beautifully and autumn/winter feels like the perfect time for this read. It's eerie, it's Gothic and it's like a daydream. I also enjoyed the sapphic yearning.

I honestly think this book couldve been amazing exploring its own thing without the ties to Mary but I admit it was what made me request this book.

The audiobook narrator was great so I recommend listening to this novel if you have any interest!