Romantic Outlaws

The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley

By: Charlotte Gordon

Narrated by: Susan Lyons

Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Charlotte Gordon's new work is a fresh look at the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, who together comprise one of the most illustrious and inspiring mother-daughter pairs in history. Wollstonecraft published the first full articulation of women's rights in 1792, risking her reputation and sometimes her life in pursuit of her radical goals, while her daughter Mary Shelley wrote the masterpiece Frankenstein in 1819, and famously professed her love to the poet Percy Shelley on her mother's grave.

Although these two women never really knew each other, their lives were so closely intertwined and eerily similar that it seems impossible to consider one without the other: Both became writers; both fell in love with brilliant but impossible men, and were single mothers who had children out of wedlock; both struggled to negotiate their need for love and companionship with their need for independence. The narrative takes listeners from Revolutionary France to the Scottish Highlands, from Victorian England to the canals of Venice, flowing like an engrossing historical novel.

©2015 Charlotte Gordon (P)2015 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• National Book Critics Circle Award Winner, Biography, 2015

Important and compelling

This book introduces great depth and dimension to the lives of Two pioneers for women’s rights and the quality of their lives. While thoroughly describing the lives of women in the 18th and 19th centuries through the stories of Mary Wolstonecraft and Mary Shelly, the author also traces and honors a mother’s legacy living in her daughter. What an eye opener and heart warmer. An essential read for those interested in early feminist literature

In a word: Excellent

Not just an accounting of facts but a sophisticated weaving of historical, historiographical, and literary analysis. The reading for this audiobook is very well done and pleasant to listen to. I will definitely listen again!

informative

I recommend listening to all the Wollstencraft chapters first and then the Shelley ones. this was easier for me than jumping back and forth each chapter through their lives.

Beyond Expectations

Any additional comments?

I loved this book and I am mostly a fiction reader. It was a fascinating story and I learned so much about the period and was constantly grateful as a woman to be living right now. I have such admiration for the courage of both women and what they accomplished against great odds. Didn't want to stop listening to it.

Brilliant Accurate History.

I thought I was an expert on the romantic poets before I read this lovely, sad book of surprisingly true things.

Awesome

I really enjoyed this book. I do plan on looking for more books on Mary Shelley and her mother. Great stories on women.

Masterclass Overview

The way that the author bounces between mother and daughter is superb. The performance is well done. I will be haunted by this book for many years.

Fantastic!

This was beautifully written and performed. I recommend this to anybody that loves biographies, women's rights and British Literature.

Wollstonecraft and Shelley

What a brilliant idea to review the life of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley Godwin in one book. These two women, mother and daughter respectively, were England’s first feminists. Wollstonecraft’s and Shelley’s lives were difficult and challenging especially faced with a patriarchal society that did not want women to write philosophically and intellectually. For these women to write the way they did dealing with so many difficulties in life, especially financial ones, was inspiring.
I was particularly impressed with Mary Shelley Godwin, the author of Frankenstein as well as three other novels, many essays, an encyclopedia more or less of literary men of Spain, Portugal and France, as well as a 4-volume complete poetry of Percy Shelley.
The narrator of this book was excellent and the story is definitely worth a read or listen. Gordon did an excellent job in writing Romantic Outlaws.

Great insights and performance

Loved both the voice actor (Susan Lyons?) and learned so much about the Wollstonecraft— particularly pointed to Reading ‘Letters from Sweden,’ which I had no notion of reading before listening to this book. Highly recommend this audiobook.