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

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 135 ratings
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The Lady and Her Monsters by Roseanne Motillo brings to life the fascinating times, startling science, and real-life horrors behind Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein.

Montillo recounts how—at the intersection of the Romantic Age and the Industrial Revolution—Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein was inspired by actual scientists of the period: curious and daring iconoclasts who were obsessed with the inner workings of the human body and how it might be reanimated after death.

With true-life tales of grave robbers, ghoulish experiments, and the ultimate in macabre research—human reanimation—The Lady and Her Monsters is a brilliant exploration of the creation of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s horror classic.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Look Inside The Lady and Her Monsters

From Giovanni Aldini's text, Essai theoretique experimental sur le galvanism, depicting two decapitated cadavers and his efforts to restore movements to them. Mrs. Docherty was suffocated and her body sold to Dr. Knox for dissection. The killers used the method known as 'burking' - plying their victim with drink then suffocating her. Mrs. Docherty was their last victim. In the 18th century, the river provided a great divide between social classes in London. It was also from one of its bridges that Mary Wollstonecraft jumped trying to commit suicide. Frankenstein Observing the first stirring of his creature -- This is a print from the 1831 edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Scores of books and movies have retold the infamous tale of the ghost-story contest that gave rise to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but Montillo digs deeper (so to speak) in this dual history of literature and science. Half the book is simply one of the most readable biographical portraits you’ll find of Mary Shelley—the standoffish, spiteful, but brilliant daughter of a famous feminist mother and philosopher father, and whose torrid love affair with the wild poet Percy Shelley (aka “Mad Shelley”) kicked off with premarital midnight sex in a cemetery and only got weirder from there. Alternating with Mary’s narrative is the hellacious history of the rock-star anatomists of the 1700s, who enthralled Percy, and, by extension, Mary, with their grotesque forays into “galvanism,” the manipulation of dead muscle via electrical current. Both plots come lumbering at each other like, well, monsters until that fateful summer in Geneva when Mary stitched her various influences together into a single literary beast. Montillo is an academic but unafraid of salaciousness, injecting into her tale an invigorating solution of sex, gore, and gossip as we reach both the end of Mary’s woeful life and the end of the anatomists’ grave-robbing free-for-all as it ceded to the Anatomy Act. Sick, smart, shocking, and spellbinding. --Daniel Kraus

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0089LOI5K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow; Reissue edition (February 5, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 5, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.9 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 338 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 135 ratings

About the author

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Roseanne Montillo
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Roseanne Montillo is an accomplished author whose books include the recently published Fire on the Track, as well asThe Wilderness of Ruin, The Lady and Her Monsters, and Halloween and Commemoration of the Dead.

She has received her MFA from Emerson College, as well as her BFA from Emerson College.

Montillo has taught for Lesley University and the Tufts Extension School, as well as in the Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
135 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting and entertaining. They appreciate the context and background information on the time period. Readers find the pacing good, with an eye-catching cover design. Many consider it a good read, particularly the epilogue. However, opinions differ on the writing quality - some find it well-written and easy to understand, while others feel the similes are strained and the paragraph construction is clunky.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

10 customers mention "Interest in history"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an interesting read for those interested in history, medicine, poetry, or literature. They appreciate the historical account and biography that provides insights into how stories are written. The story flows brilliantly through England and Europe, with many characters contributing to a whirlpool of events. Readers also mention it's an engrossing look at 18th and 19th Century mores and technology.

"...The story winds through England and Europe, with many characters contributing to a whirlpool of debauchery, including Lord Byron...." Read more

"...the making of the book Frankenstien, yet it was all about making the story of Frankenstein...." Read more

"...all touted as morbid and "emo," but they're still endlessly fascinating. They were also all utterly intolerable in their pretentiousness...." Read more

"Roseanne Montillo has written another interesting biography that provides insight into the short tragic life of Mary Shelley...." Read more

9 customers mention "Interest"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and entertaining. They say it provides topics for conversation with friends and contributes to knowledge. Readers appreciate the lively narrative voice and fun gossip about Shelley's literary friends.

"...'s life however, this book shared new data which i felt was most interesting. Mary and Percy's sad life together along with Byron..." Read more

"...This was a very scattered book. An interesting one, sure, and a well-researched one, but not very focused...." Read more

"...pages before Montillo gets to Mary Shelley; however, it is an electrifying 75 pages which describes the environment which bred Shelley's masterpiece...." Read more

"...All the more because there ARE some very interesting bits here and there and the effort to pull all of this material together is a noble one...." Read more

3 customers mention "Context"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the context of the book. They find it provides a good background on everyone in the free world at the time. The cover design is eye-catching and appealing.

"I like Adam Johnson's eye-catching, fetching cover design for THE LADY AND HER MONSTERS...." Read more

"...Please read it. Gives good background on everyone in the free world at the time." Read more

"Contextual setting..." Read more

3 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's pacing and find it provides a good profile of Mary Shelley. They appreciate the original and fascinating take on Mary Shelley and her work.

"...And, it’s also wonderful to see Mary Shelley, who had to publish Frankenstein anonymously, take center stage rather than be known primarily for her..." Read more

"Brilliant writing. A completely original and fascinating take on Mary Shelly and Frankenstein. Roseanne Montillo is a superb writer...." Read more

"Good Profile of Mary Shelley..." Read more

3 customers mention "Readability"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable. They appreciate the epilogue, which raises the question about what the book means.

"...I particularly liked the epilog, where the author brings up the question of what it means to be alive and can we as a species control what we create...." Read more

"It's a good read. However, there are others about Mary that are less wordy. Please read it...." Read more

"A Franken-Good read!..." Read more

9 customers mention "Writing quality"6 positive3 negative

Customers have different views on the writing quality of the book. Some find it well-written and readable, while others find it verbose, dense, and pointless. They mention that the similes are strained, the paragraph construction is clunky, the syntax is routinely twisted, and the metaphors leaden. The writing lacks cohesion and is not enjoyable to read, with vague footnotes raising more questions than they answer.

"...narrative with some decent info sprinkled throughout, and the writing itself was solid, but it just made me want to read different, more focused..." Read more

"...twisted, the metaphors leaden, the similes strained, the paragraph construction clunky. And this is a literature professor, for goodness' sake...." Read more

"...However I found the book well researched, well written and it made a good and unusal read." Read more

"...I found this easily readable and enlightening as the evolution of medicine, expansion of scientific knowledge, added to cauldron of experience from..." Read more

Fascinating Historical Snapshot
5 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Historical Snapshot
A fascinating historical look at the life of Mary Shelley, and the world that shaped the creation of her classic, 'Frankenstein'. Touching on everything from Mary's feminist icon mother and attention-seeking sister to her acquaintance with the dashing Lord Byron and ill-fated romance with Percy Shelley, not to mention grave robbers, the new scientific fad of Galvanism, and the infamous summer when science met Gothic imagination in the mind of a nineteen year old woman and forever impacted the world of literature, this book is intriguing and informative and definitely worth a read.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2021
    The book includes multiple themes. It traces Mary Shelly's development from sheltered child to struggling widow. In the early 1800s the possibilities of science, animation, and electricity seized the public imagination. She struggled against insufferable male prejudice and indifference to suffering but eventually received recognition for her work. The story winds through England and Europe, with many characters contributing to a whirlpool of debauchery, including Lord Byron. I particularly liked the epilog, where the author brings up the question of what it means to be alive and can we as a species control what we create. Are we playing God; are we smart enough to control what we unleash? As one country rube put it "a huntin' dog's a great thing. But you don't give the gun to the dog!"
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2013
    I was familiar with some of the history of Mary Shelley's life however, this book shared new data which i felt was most interesting. Mary and Percy's sad life together along with Byron( the anorexic! i didn't know!) living in Italy and England shed new light on thier relationships.
    The book really was more about thier relationships and struggles than about the making of the book Frankenstien, yet it was all about making the story of Frankenstein. I know that sounds a bit odd but the history of re-animation in the early part of the book does really tie in to the whole book's fabric.
    Be sure and read the Epilouge- it was an intersting tidbit that I don't know if many people knew about a famous person of the 20th century.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2017
    (This was originally posted on GoodReads. I have slightly edited my review to better suit Amazon reviewing.)

    This was a very scattered book. An interesting one, sure, and a well-researched one, but not very focused. It bit off much more than it needed to chew. The root of the book is the study of Mary Shelley and her motivations when writing "Frankenstein," but I don't think this book pulled many conclusions that a second-year literature student could not do with a few primary sources and a good Norton edition of the book.

    The narrative follows two paths--a scientific one and a personal one. The science revolves around the historical interest in bringing dead bodies back to live through galvanism (a word which I have often used but did not know the roots of until this book). This is the section that held less interest for me, only because I didn't find it very shocking. It is a natural human instinct to be curious, and I understand if that curiosity extends to our bodies after death. I feel like Montillo wanted us to think the men of science like Galvini and Davy were somehow dark and sinister for their work, which I think is unfair. They had a lot of failures, but they were also pioneers. Would we fault a medical examiner or funeral director for keeping an emotional distance from their work today? Probably not, so I would extend the same line of thinking to the men who cut up bodies to see what was inside.

    However, I didn't finish this novel without learning quite a bit. I had no idea the history of anatomist's dissections or the grave-robbing culture that blossomed from the demand for bodies. I especially liked the part about Burke & Hare and how they tried to profit off bringing (very fresh) bodies to medical researchers for cash. As a true crime fan, I was interested in the aspect of grave-robbing and body dissection that is not a victimless crime. Unfortunately, this is all supposed to be tied back to "Frankenstein," which I wasn't really buying. I never found lack of respect towards human remains to be the prevailing theme of the novel--an important one, yes, but not the main one of the narrative.

    The personal aspect of the narrative was about author Mary Shelley. It wouldn't be a reach to say this really was two different books--Shelley herself never really crossed paths with the science aspect of bringing a body back to life besides hearing secondhand accounts from her husband or father. To claim she got her idea mainly from this scientific trend diminishes what is obviously a troubled and creative mind--of course she got ideas from the world around her, but in the end, she was an author of fiction, which requires an imagination.

    I've always been drawn to the Romantic writers in the same way I'm drawn to Sylvia Plath and Death Cab for Cutie--they're all touted as morbid and "emo," but they're still endlessly fascinating. They were also all utterly intolerable in their pretentiousness. You almost need a sense of humor when you read about them--how couldn't have Shelley with her tragic past not written a novel like "Frankenstein?" There are a lot of intersections between the sort of "melancholy" Shelley was known to have and modern conditions like anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder that are treated in a much more serious matter. It also isn't a stretch to think that the theme of "man as god" was glossed over for so long in the book because it was written by a teenage girl, not a well-established man of letters. I appreciated the parts of the book that highlighted how unfairly Shelley was treated. She deserves this kind of study and recognition, scattered as it may be.

    I think modern readers will be a little bored by this book. We're sympathetic to both female writers of the past and the early scientific community. We tend to have a more nuanced view on what constitutes body and soul and how those are tied together. This is a clumsy narrative with some decent info sprinkled throughout, and the writing itself was solid, but it just made me want to read different, more focused bios on Mary Shelley and her work.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2013
    It takes about 75 pages before Montillo gets to Mary Shelley; however, it is an electrifying 75 pages which describes the environment which bred Shelley's masterpiece. Scientific experiments by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta in trying to re-animate dead frogs, then dead human body parts with electricity. The thriving black market for resurrection men to supply surgeons with dead bodies for dissections - a macabre profession involving grave robbing, public hangings, and profit-minded serial murderers.

    All this before Mary Godwin and Percy Shelley's sexual escapades in a London cemetery and eventually, that stormy night in Lake Geneva when a group of friends decide to write their own ghost stories. That night, of course, spawned Frankenstein, but also the first vampire story ever written, The Vampyre by George Polidori.

    Montillo does a thorough job laying the foundation of how the scientific and medical advances of that time contributed to Frankenstein's birth. In addition, Montillo writes about Percy Shelley's influence on Mary - his fascination with science and madcap scientific experiments, a surprising side to my vision of the romantic poet.

    This doesn't appear to be, nor is it touted as, a biography of Mary Shelley. If going into it with that mindset, you will probably be disappointed. But if you are a fan of the Romantics and Frankenstein, this is a very lively and entertaining read. What led up to Frankenstein is just as exciting, and sometimes as horrifying, as the horror novel itself.
    6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Douglas Brent
    4.0 out of 5 stars A really interesting read
    Reviewed in Canada on April 4, 2013
    This book contains some fascinating background on the eighteenth and nineteenth century fascination with electricity, Gavanism, and reanimation -- scientific and pseudoscientific (and sometime junk-scientific) concepts that Mary Shelly wove into Frankenstein. It's equally interesting for its detailed biography of Shelly herself and the sometimes-bizarre romantic entanglements among herself, Percy Shelly, Lord Byron, and others whom we have not heard of before. It manages to capture a lot of historical detail without becoming pondorous.

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