The Hyena's Daughter

“The Hyena’s Daughter tells the far-too-untold story of a c19th sisterhood, the daughters of Mary Wollstonecraft: Fanny Imlay and Mary Shelley, the famed writer of Frankenstein, plus their step-sister Claire Clairmont, lover of Lord Byron.

From Ali Smith:

“The Hyena’s Daughter tells the far-too-untold story of a c19th sisterhood, thedaughters of Mary Wollstonecraft: Fanny Imlay and Mary Shelley, the famedwriter of Frankenstein, plus their step-sister Claire Clairmont, lover of LordByron.

Are they the three graces? The fates? They’re women, as alive and breathingand rebellious and analytical as you and me, and well aware and critical of thehemmed-in nature they’re expected to accept as women of their time – a timeof “a new way of thinking, a new-world independence, a revolutionary world.”

It features their connection to Percy Bysshe Shelley – “how could we not lovehim, with his lofty ethics and words that flew like birds?” –and many of theother contemporary poets and thinkers of the time.

Pacy and assured, it turns its history to life from fragment to sensuousfragment. If the dead brought to life is to be Mary Shelley’s theme, this novellaasks what the real source of life spirit is, the vital spark. This book, full of detailand richesse, is a piece of vitality in itself.”