Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was a novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.
In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori and Claire Clairmont in Geneva. It was here that Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.
The year before the Shelleys had holidayed in Torquay.
This visit appears to have left its mark, as Mary later wrote a story for children set near the town. Long thought lost, it was discovered in 2004 in the private archives of an Italian family in their palazzo in the Tuscany hills, where it lay unread and unnoticed for more than 150 years.
‘Maurice, or the Fisher’s Cot’ consists of 39 closely written pages in Mary Shelley’s handwriting.
Dated 1820, it was written for Laura, known as Laurette, the 11-year-old daughter of their close friend Lady Mountcashel during their exile in Italy. An entry in Mary Shelley’s journal for 10 August 1820‚ just before her 23rd birthday‚ reads: “Write a story for Laurette. Walk in the mountains … The weather is warm and delightful.”
Written two years after the publication of Frankenstein, the story is a sentimental morality tale about a boy who runs away from his presumed parents, is adopted by an old fisherman and lives in a cottage‚ the “cot” of the subtitle‚ on the coast near Torquay.
Come and enjoy Devon – book a hotel and get away!
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