Mary Shelley was the daughter of the iconic feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and her husband William Godwin. She has not had a normal childhood….she’s been exposed to all kinds of brilliant literary and philosophical figures.
But she has also suffered tragedy, Mary never knew her mother. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to Mary, so the only family she has ever known was her half sister Fanny and her father. Well, Mary’s life is about to get more complicated and uncomfortable when her father remarries. William has only ever really loved one woman, Mary Wollstonecraft, so when he remarries his neighbor Mary Jane Clairmont she is pretty jealous of Wollstonecraft’s memory.
Mary Jane brings her daughter Claire to the household and it’s clear that Mary’s life is going to now include a jealous step mother and a spoiled step sister both of whom bring constant conflict to the family dynamics.
At a very young age, Mary meets a romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she falls deeply in love with. They elope and the fallout from that elopement will define Mary’s future. Mary and her new husband soon find themselves destitute, in constant debt, ostracized by society, and worst of all, Mary is embroiled in a torturous love triangle as Percy takes Mary’s stepsister Claire as a lover.
Veronica Speedwell is finally free from her spinster aunts! Not that she is rejoicing in their deaths or anything but she has longed to be free to travel the world in pursuit of butterflies and a few romantic liaisons. She is not just an amateur butterfly collector, but a scientist, lepidopterist, and lover of natural science in particular.
Sophia is a talented artist and writer. Her well known Salem family has discouraged her from pursuing traditional women’s roles such as marriage, in favor of pursuing her creative and educational talents. Plagued by debilitating headaches, Sophia spends a lot of time in bed and her parents even send her to Cuban in hopes of curing her headaches.
As a young girl, Alaina Claiborne witnesses a the murder of her parents…..an event that she doesn’t fully understand.
The Lit Bitch 