Description

‘Do monsters always stay in the book where they were born? Are they content to live out their lives on paper, and never step foot into the real world?’

The Villa Diodati, on the shore of Lake Geneva, 1816: the Year without Summer. As Byron, Polidori, and Mr and Mrs Shelley shelter from the unexpected weather, old ghost stories are read and new ghost stories imagined. Born by the twin brains of the Shelleys is Frankenstein, one of the most influential tales of horror of all time.

In a remote mountain house, high in the French Alps, an author broods on Shelley’s creation. Reality and perception merge, fuelled by poisoned thoughts. Humankind makes monsters; but who really creates who? This is a book about reason, the imagination, and the creative act of reading and writing. Marcus Sedgwick’s ghostly, menacing novel celebrates the legacy of Mary Shelley’s literary debut in its bicentenary year.

Publisher Review

'There is a great cinematic quality to the writing' The Bookbag. 'Wow, so elegantly done, so intelligent and so dark' Nicola Davies. 'A taut menacing ghost story' The Bookseller, 'One to Watch'. 'Quiet, riveting & compelling with an unnerving atmosphere and a deeply troubling sense of unrest that must be experienced. Genre-defying, truly great horror' Fallen Star Stories Blog. 'Deeply atmospheric and gothicly creepy, this is probably my favourite Sedgwick book to date ... This is a must' Askews Children's Newsletter.