Scan barcode
A review by happylilkt
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon
5.0
4.5 Very good writing and the audiobook performance is excellent.
The classics book club I'm a part of uses a framework for planning the year's reads. Every fall we do a play, every March, Shakespeare. We do a children's classic in May, and every summer we do a big fat book. And, in recent years, we started including a literary biography to read each January. Last year we decided to read some Mary Wollstonecraft in preparation for this dual biography of Mary W. and her (now) more famous daughter Mary Shelley.
It's really Mary Wollstonecraft who shines in this biography, or at least, she was the one I couldn't get enough of. She was renowned for her independent thinking—Aaron Burr was so inspired by her essays on women's rights that he decided to give his daughter Theodosia a classical education superior to what most boys received in those days. (And, apparently he visited Mary Wollstonecraft's widower William Godwin and dandled little Mary Shelley on his knee, figuratively speaking).
Anyway, if you are interested in this one, I recommend reading excerpts from Vindication of the Rights of Women or some other essay by Mary Wollstonecraft first. But it's definitely not necessary. I listened to the audiobook by Susan Lyons and it was superb. The only confusion is that mother and daughter are both called Mary and the author chose to alternate their stories... a little confusing on audiobook, but eventually you find your way.
As I listened / read this one I thought about how many women's issues there are and ever have been. I thought about how these women tried to find true companionship, financial and spiritual independence and emotional and physical safety in a time when women were very limited legally and socially—marriage could be a trap and a prison, but they had very little status and safety without it.
I'm grateful for the wonderful brain and honest spirit of Mary Wollstonecraft and the influence she had on men and women that led to greater rights for women today.
Highly recommend!
The classics book club I'm a part of uses a framework for planning the year's reads. Every fall we do a play, every March, Shakespeare. We do a children's classic in May, and every summer we do a big fat book. And, in recent years, we started including a literary biography to read each January. Last year we decided to read some Mary Wollstonecraft in preparation for this dual biography of Mary W. and her (now) more famous daughter Mary Shelley.
It's really Mary Wollstonecraft who shines in this biography, or at least, she was the one I couldn't get enough of. She was renowned for her independent thinking—Aaron Burr was so inspired by her essays on women's rights that he decided to give his daughter Theodosia a classical education superior to what most boys received in those days. (And, apparently he visited Mary Wollstonecraft's widower William Godwin and dandled little Mary Shelley on his knee, figuratively speaking).
Anyway, if you are interested in this one, I recommend reading excerpts from Vindication of the Rights of Women or some other essay by Mary Wollstonecraft first. But it's definitely not necessary. I listened to the audiobook by Susan Lyons and it was superb. The only confusion is that mother and daughter are both called Mary and the author chose to alternate their stories... a little confusing on audiobook, but eventually you find your way.
As I listened / read this one I thought about how many women's issues there are and ever have been. I thought about how these women tried to find true companionship, financial and spiritual independence and emotional and physical safety in a time when women were very limited legally and socially—marriage could be a trap and a prison, but they had very little status and safety without it.
I'm grateful for the wonderful brain and honest spirit of Mary Wollstonecraft and the influence she had on men and women that led to greater rights for women today.
Highly recommend!