In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein - Tapa dura

If we get another literary biography in 2018 as astute and feelingful as this one, we shall be lucky. (John Carey Sunday Times)

Sampson is as adept as Frankenstein himself, giving life to a figure who convincingly aches and bleeds ... the landscapes and interiors within which Sampson's subject moves are as crisply rendered as Frankenstein's own plane of Arctic ice. (Guardian)

Fiona Sampson is a sleuth of a biographer ... rarely has my jaw dropped on so many occasions while reading a biography. (Daily Mail)

Gripping ... Sampson has written a fascinating book (The Times)

A daringly swift and enjoyably irreverent retelling of Shelley's life (Observer)

Astonishing scenes are laid before the reader in the manner of vivid tableaux ... fascinating and ambitious. (Irish Times)

[Gives] very real and valuable and sharp insights into the creative process of a work of genius. (Herald)

It is a passionate demonstration of the elements that have kept her story vibrant for 200 years. It is moving, it is alive, it is a success. (Elaine Showalter Spectator 2018-01-19)

A fresh, clever and intuitive account of the mind from which Frankenstein emerged. (Irish Times)

Fiona Sampson's study manages to illuminate her subject in prose that is both insightful and elegant. (The i)