Clairmont set in Geneva, England and Italy – L McDowell

Submitted: 19th February 2024

Clairmont – Stepsister of Mary Shelley

Woman has baby with lover who then abandons her and the child. She follows him. He rejects her and takes the child to live with him. He puts the child in a convent and never really accepts her. The woman pines for her child. Then, disaster strikes.

Fascinating story in its own right but when you realise that this actually happened to the step sister of Mary Shelley and the man in question was Lord Byron….well this becomes all the more intriguing!

Travel to the locations in Clairmont

Clairmont set in Geneva, England and Italy - L McDowell

Travel to the locations in Clairmont

Boarding Pass Information :

Destination : Venice, Paris, Geneva, Russia

Author guide: Lesley McDowell

Genre: historical inspired by true facts

Food and drink to accompany: parts of all different cuisines

#Bookreview

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A novel to transport you to Mary Shelley’s world

Travel to the locations in Clairmont

Claire Clairmont, the woman who gives her name to this novel is a woman plucked from history and given her own voice. She was the step sister of Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein but is largely forgotten due to her stepsisters prominence. What’s very interesting is that she had an affair with Lord Byron and they had a child which he subsequently abandoned. Disaster strikes however and the story takes a turn for the worst.

The locations in the novel were excellent as they ranged from Geneva to Italy back to England as we visited real life locations of where Byron and the Shelley family lived. I had no idea about Mary Shelley’s step sister and find it fascinating that this story has finally been told!

Claire tells her story well. Geneva where all the characters were together were particularly insightful. There’s also Russia and Paris not to mention Italy. There’s a journey in more ways than one and I was there for the ride. Utterly compelling and hard to put down.

Lord Byron comes across very badly indeed – what a cad! I had no idea he was like this. His behaviour towards Claire is shocking and he is very abusive. That actually reflects larger society at the time and honestly, the way women were treated by men in general in this book is very hard to read at times. Tell you what, it might explain where Mary Shelley got the idea for Frankenstein from! (Have to say she doesn’t come off too well in all of this either but that’s another story)

I loved this. A very meaty story with spice and very emotionally challenging. What a story though!