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Love, Sex & Frankenstein

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Love, Sex & Frankenstein

By: Caroline Lea
Narrated by: Florence Howard
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, 1816.
The dark summer that birthed a monster . . .

Eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. Tormented by Shelley’s betrayals, haunted by the loss of their baby and suspicious of her sister’s intentions, Mary seeks a refuge.

But Lord Byron’s villa, lying under ominous, ash-shrouded skies, feels more like a trap.
When Byron suggests each guest write a supernatural tale, Mary is as drawn to the challenge as she is, unexpectedly, to Byron himself.

And so an idea begins to form in her mind . . .

It spills out of her in thick, black ink.
A thing given life is before her.

Day and night, it possesses her.
Her heart, her desires.

But is she in control, or is it?

In this hauntingly evocative feminist retelling, Caroline Lea delves into the female rage, creative madness and steamy scandal that bore the world's most famous work of gothic fiction. Perfect for fans of The Essex Serpent and The Manningtree Witches.

© Caroline Lea 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Gothic Historical Horror Regency Heartfelt

Critic reviews

Lea creates a world that is so vividly realised, it is astonishing to read. All her characters are wonderfully nuanced, and you cannot help but fall in love with Mary, whose journey as an artist and as a woman is both absolutely heartbreaking and truly inspiring. This is a deeply moving, magical book from a consummate storyteller
Utterly compelling and immersive. I was hooked from the first page and looked forward to every moment I could spend with this stunning novel. Hauntingly beautiful, dangerous and magnificent, the isolated villa on Lake Geneva and the wild storms which battered it held me captive, as I witnessed Mary Shelley's transformation from lovesick teenager to a fiercely feminist young. In short: I have been altered by this novel
Raw, rage-filled and wondrous. A crackling, passionate read about Mary Shelley and the monsters we suppress. I loved it
Beautifully written and wonderfully intense, this is no glamorous story of the rock star poets and their female muses but a rendition of absolute powerlessness turned around through sheer force of will. Lea throws light onto the true brilliance of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, a girl raised to believe in freedom who would live out her beliefs against all the odds. A thrilling read
A deliciously dark reimagining of the birth of literature's greatest monster, Love, Sex & Frankenstein is at once a heartbreaking Gothic love story and a chilling study of rage, betrayal and the mysterious origins of the creative impulse. A triumph
Love, Sex & Frankenstein is an intoxicating tale about the monsters suppressed inside us. Fury and passion, obsession and revenge sizzle beneath the surface as out-of-this-world prose spins the book to a powerful, sensual grand finale. What a firecracker of a story - it completely swept me off my feet!
An astonishing and spectacular book. I felt I was there every step of the way with Mary Shelley as she experienced the desperate pain of her love for Shelley, her desire for Byron and most importantly the battle to find her own voice and write her masterpiece, Frankenstein. A wonderful book about loving the monster inside us all and the freedom that can bring. There are rare moments when an author creates something they were born to write and this is Caroline’s moment. This book is an absolute masterpiece. Brava.
The best rendition of Mary Shelley to be found in a novel. Here is a glorious story of female awakening and rage. Brava
Richly woven, gorgeously addictive, this is a true Gothic novel about life, death, desire, fury and passion. Conjuring the transformation that comes when we look into the dark shadows of the soul and acknowledge the longing that resides there, I absolutely loved this novel
All stars
Most relevant
Really enjoyed the reading of this book- the pace was good and the narrator’s tone was perfect for a story focusing on women’s rage and place in society. I found some of it a bit dull given the story was about Byron and Shelley…there was a fair bit of repetition in relation to the thoughts of Mary Shelley and the fact she was annoyed for most of the book, but that was the point of it so can’t be too angry about that! Overall, I’d recommend this- a good story and read really well.

Great reading, a good story, ending a bit flat

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What an incredible novel this is! Caroline Lea transports us back in time, giving us a fascinating insight into the mind of Mary Shelley, her life, and the events leading up to and surrounding her writing of the celebrated gothic horror story, Frankenstein. Mary’s relationships with family, in particular her stepsister, and with the famed poets Shelley and Byron, combined with the expectations of being a woman in the nineteenth century, feed a simmering rage in Mary, which begins to boil over in the claustrophobic conditions she finds herself in, in the Villa Diodati during the summer of 1816.

Lea is known for her beautifully descriptive writing style, and this is no exception. In fact, I think it is her best yet. I enjoyed the narration too.

Highly recommended ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Captivating

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Vivid, passionate and immersive reimagining of the famous year without a summer on Lake Geneva. A good deal of despicable behaviour, plenty of rage, self-discovery, and hope.

Vivid and passionate

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