Awards

• Short-listed for Macavity Award (Nonfiction) 2014

Overview

The Lady and Her Monsters by Roseanne Motillo brings to life the fascinating times, startling science, and real-life horrors behind Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein. Montillo recounts how--at the intersection of the Romantic Age and the Industrial Revolution--Shelley's Victor Frankenstein was inspired by actual scientists of the period: curious and daring iconoclasts who were obsessed with the inner workings of the human body and how it might be reanimated after death. With true-life tales of grave robbers, ghoulish experiments, and the ultimate in macabre research--human reanimation--The Lady and Her Monsters is a brilliant exploration of the creation of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's horror classic.

Full Product Details

9780062025838

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Reviews

Spills the dirt on the making of the 19th-century novel--affairs, family drama, a lake house with Lord Byron!--and paints a grimly fascinating picture of the dissections and experiments in animal electricity that inspired the gothic tale. --Mental Floss With a flair for both drama and detail, Montillo breathes her own kind of life into the story of the men determined to discover its very elements. --Discover Magazine Her narrative... rattles enjoyably through a lurid and restless landscape. ... Equally a literary and a scientific endeavor. --Wall Street Journal Montillo achieves a freshness through her lively narrative approach and a fascination with long-ago science and its ethics that sparks across the pages. --New York Times Book Review Montillo's book is a welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story. --The Commercial Dispatch A welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story. --The Lady and Her Monsters Montillo never loses sight of the fact that it was Mary Shelley's imagination that sewed the pieces together - and provided the vital spark that keeps the tale alive nearly two centuries on. --New Scientist A haunting picture of an era in which science and the arts overlapped, a perfect storm in which inspiration for Frankenstein could strike. Like a bolt of lightning. --Washington Post A delicious and enticing journey into the origins of a masterpiece. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Enthusiatic prose... A Spirited investigation of the bizarre times that inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. --Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)

Her narrative... rattles enjoyably through a lurid and restless landscape. ... Equally a literary and a scientific endeavor. -- Wall Street Journal Montillo achieves a freshness through her lively narrative approach and a fascination with long-ago science and its ethics that sparks across the pages. -- New York Times Book Review Enthusiatic prose... A Spirited investigation of the bizarre times that inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. -- Shelf Awareness (Starred Review) A delicious and enticing journey into the origins of a masterpiece. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) With a flair for both drama and detail, Montillo breathes her own kind of life into the story of the men determined to discover its very elements. -- Discover Magazine Spills the dirt on the making of the 19th-century novel--affairs, family drama, a lake house with Lord Byron!--and paints a grimly fascinating picture of the dissections and experiments in animal electricity that inspired the gothic tale. -- Mental Floss Montillo's book is a welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story. -- The Commercial Dispatch A welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story. -- The Lady and Her Monsters Montillo never loses sight of the fact that it was Mary Shelley's imagination that sewed the pieces together - and provided the vital spark that keeps the tale alive nearly two centuries on. -- New Scientist A haunting picture of an era in which science and the arts overlapped, a perfect storm in which inspiration for Frankenstein could strike. Like a bolt of lightning. -- Washington Post

A delicious and enticing journey into the origins of a masterpiece. --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A haunting picture of an era in which science and the arts overlapped, a perfect storm in which inspiration for Frankenstein could strike. Like a bolt of lightning. --Washington Post

"""Her narrative... rattles enjoyably through a lurid and restless landscape. ... Equally a literary and a scientific endeavor."" -- Wall Street Journal ""Montillo achieves a freshness through her lively narrative approach and a fascination with long-ago science and its ethics that sparks across the pages."" -- New York Times Book Review ""Enthusiatic prose... A Spirited investigation of the bizarre times that inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."" -- Shelf Awareness (Starred Review) ""A delicious and enticing journey into the origins of a masterpiece."" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) ""With a flair for both drama and detail, Montillo breathes her own kind of life into the story of the men determined to discover its very elements."" -- Discover Magazine ""Spills the dirt on the making of the 19th-century novel--affairs, family drama, a lake house with Lord Byron!--and paints a grimly fascinating picture of the dissections and experiments in ""animal electricity"" that inspired the gothic tale."" -- Mental Floss ""Montillo's book is a welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story."" -- The Commercial Dispatch ""A welcome tribute to the literary, and especially the scientific, roots of the story."" -- The Lady and Her Monsters ""Montillo never loses sight of the fact that it was Mary Shelley's imagination that sewed the pieces together - and provided the vital spark that keeps the tale alive nearly two centuries on."" -- New Scientist ""A haunting picture of an era in which science and the arts overlapped, a perfect storm in which inspiration for ""Frankenstein"" could strike. Like a bolt of lightning."" -- Washington Post"

Author Information

Roseanne Montillo holds an MFA from Emerson College in Massachusetts, where she teaches as a professor of literature. She is the author of The Lady and Her Monsters.

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