Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein

From Stephanie Hemphill, author of the Printz Honor winner Your Own, Sylvia and the acclaimed novel Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials, comes the fascinating story of gothic novelist Mary Shelley, most famous for the classic Frankenstein.

An all-consuming love affair with famed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a family torn apart by scandal, a young author on the brink of greatness: Hideous Love is the story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of literature, a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein.

This luminous verse novel reveals how Mary Shelley became one of the most celebrated authors in history.

How did a teenage girl navigate tragedy, scandal, and a world-changing love to write a masterpiece that still haunts the world?

• Novel in Verse: Experience Mary Shelley’s tumultuous life through a lyrical, first-person narrative that captures every moment of passion, creativity, and heartbreak.
• Biographical Fiction: Step into the world of literary giants like Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, reimagined through the eyes of the young woman who walked among them.
• The Story Behind Frankenstein: Discover the legendary ghost story contest in a rain-swept Geneva villa that sparked the creation of one of the most famous gothic novels of all time.
• Love and Loss: Follow an all-consuming, scandalous love affair that led to both breathtaking genius and devastating personal tragedy.