After the tragic death of her mother shortly after her birth, Mathilda is raised in isolation by her stern but loving father. Their relationship grows closer and more intense over the years, but a shocking revelation of her father’s forbidden feelings for her leads to his tragic demise and plunges Mathilda into a deep state of guilt and despair.
Initially unpublished during Mary Shelley’s lifetime, Mathilda remained unknown for many years but has since been recognised for its profound emotional depth and psychological insight. Shelley's masterful storytelling and the raw intensity of Mathilda's inner struggles offer a compelling reflection on the human condition.

MARY SHELLEY [1797-1851] was the daughter of philosopher William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstone­craft. In the summer of 1816, spent by Lake Geneva in Switzerland, her nightly conversations with poet Lord Byron and her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, sparked the idea for Frankenstein.