AT THE STATE LIBRARY
Bitesize Lunchtime Talk: "Almost Invincible" with Suzanne Burdon
at the STATE LIBRARY OF NSW Tuesday 26th August 12.30-1.30
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/events_talks/events/bitesize_lunchtime_talk_with_suzanne_burdon.htm
ABC Radio
Being interviewed by Michael Cathcart on Books and Writing on Monday 14th July, in the ABC's Tardis studio. Double whammy 'cos I am such a Dr. Who fan!
Solving the mystery of Claire Clairmont's real father.
Solvinhe mystery of Claire Clairmont's real father.
Just had a great conversation with Vicki Parslow Stafford who lives in Brisbane. She was recently researching her family and came across letters From Mary Jane Vial, who called herself Clairmont and was Claire's mother.
Although it was known that Claire was probably illegitimate, and her mother told her her father was Swiss, these letters prove that her father was Sir John Lethbridge, a Somerset land owner.
Sir John acknowledged paternity, and there are wonderful letters between Mary Jane Godwin, as she became, and Sir John and his solicitor, showing Mrs. Godwin using all of her whiles to get more child support from him!
I was up 'til 2am reading them! Love the research!
https://sites.google.com/site/maryjanesdaughter/home/who-was-claire-clairmont
This is Claire.
Launch at Gleebooks
An inspiring event hosted by Belinda Giblin!
Almost Invincible
Almost Invincible A biographical novel of Mary Shelley "She is singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind. Her desire of knowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything she undertakes, almost invincible." Mary Shelley began Frankenstein in a thunderstorm in 1814, when she was eighteen. By then, she had been living for two years in a scandalous relationship with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married with children. The novel was conceived in a contest with him and Lord Byron to tell ghost stories. When she eloped with Shelley, Mary had been quite prepared to suffer condemnation from society. It was much harder to cope with her jealousy of Claire, her step-sister, who had run away with them and was also in love with Shelley. During the nine turbulent years Mary and Shelley were together, Claire was the ever-present third, whose manipulative behaviour often drove Mary to despair. Shelley was little help – his unconventional attitudes to love strained her devotion to its limits.
They moved constantly throughout England, Switzerland and Italy, escaping creditors, censorious families and ill health. It was in Italy that they found their spiritual home, their 'paradise of exiles', but it was also there that the loss of her children nearly broke Mary's spirit. Her writing became her grip on sanity, and Shelley never wavered from his belief in her creative genius - as she believed in his.