Love, Sex, and Frankenstein

A Novel

Caroline Lea

An evocative, haunting retelling of the summer that should have broken Mary Shelley, but instead inspired her to write her masterpiece.

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, 1816: the dark summer that birthed a monster.

Eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. Tormented by Shelley’s betrayals, haunted by the loss of their baby, and suspicious of her sister’s intentions, Mary seeks a refuge.

But Lord Byron’s villa, lying under ominous, ash-shrouded skies, feels more like a trap. When Byron suggests each guest write a supernatural tale, Mary is as drawn to the challenge as she is, unexpectedly, to Byron himself.

And so an idea begins to form in her mind . . . It spills out of her in thick, black ink. A thing given life by her imagination.

Day and night, it possesses her. Her heart, her desires.

But is she in control, or is it?

In this hauntingly evocative feminist retelling, Caroline Lea delves into the female rage, creative madness and steamy scandal that bore the world's most famous work of gothic fiction.

Caroline Lea is the critically acclaimed author of The Glass Woman, The Metal Heart, and Prize Women. She lives in England.

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Endorsements & Reviews

"Devastating and revelatory." The New York Times Book Review on The Glass Woman

Early praise for Love, Sex, and Frankenstein:

"Masterful. Caroline Lea is a superb storyteller." Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Burial Plot

"Lea creates a world that is so vividly realized, it is astonishing to read. All her characters are wonderfully nuanced, and you cannot help but fall in love with Mary, whose journey as an artist and as a woman is both absolutely heartbreaking and truly inspiring. This is a deeply moving, magical book from a consummate storyteller." Elodie Harper, bestselling author of The Wolf Den

"A magnificent book - raw, rage-filled and wondrous. A crackling, passionate story about Mary Shelley and the monsters we suppress. I loved it." Anna Mazzola, author of The House of Whispers

"A deliciously dark reimagining of the birth of literature's greatest monster, Love, Sex & Frankenstein is at once a heartbreaking Gothic love story and a chilling study of rage, betrayal and the mysterious origins of the creative impulse. A triumph." Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

"A phenomenal novel." Anya Bergman, author of The Witches of Vardo

"An enthralling read. Beautifully written, this story of a woman's rage and her discovery of writing as an outlet is gripping." Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

"Gripped me in a cold fist. Beautiful.” Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton

"Crackles with tension. Moving and atmospheric, I could not put it down.” Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions

"An absolutely gripping novel about the choices women face—and the choices they are denied.” Elodie Harper, author of The House with the Golden Door