A Storm in the Stars

by Don Zancanella

In London, early in the nineteenth century, five-year-old Mary Godwin, daughter of philosopher William Godwin, plays with her sister Fanny, mourns her deceased mother, and marvels as a hot air balloon lands not far from the Thames. Nearby, in Sussex, eleven-year-old Percy Shelley entertains his three sisters by telling them stories and performing tricks with chemicals and fire.

A few years later Mary and Percy meet and fall in love in the Godwin bookshop near Black Friar’s Bridge. At first their romance seems doomed—Percy is a well-known atheist and already has a wife, and Mary is only seventeen and a under the care of her father and his overbearing second wife. But they consider such impediments trivial and are soon on their way to Ireland, to Switzerland, and across Europe (with Mary’s flighty half-sister Claire in tow).

Upon reaching Lake Geneva they find lodgings near where the notorious poet Lord Byron and his peculiar personal physician John Polidori are staying—the same Lord Byron Claire seduced back in London, her reasoning being that if Mary can have a poet, why can’t she? And so begins the summer when Mary Shelley will begin writing her novel about a reanimated corpse, Percy and Lord Byron will debate politics and poetry in the midst of lightning storms, Polidori will begin writing his novel about a man with a taste for human blood, and snow will fall in the middle of July.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club

300 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 2022

About the author

Don Zancanella has won the Iowa Short Fiction Award and an O.Henry Prize. One of his stories was cited as a distinguished story of the year in the 2019 Best American Short Stories and another one was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has published widely in literary magazines. His books include WESTERN ELECTRIC, a collection of stories; CONCORD, a novel about Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Sophia Peabody, and Nathaniel Hawthorne; and A STORM IN THE STARS, a novel about Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and the writing of Frankenstein.

He was a middle school teacher and a high school teacher and taught at the University of New Mexico. In addition to writing fiction, he has an interest in the teaching of literature and writing.

He now lives in Boise, Idaho and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Reviews

[Phy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am incredibly let down by this book . I was sold on the cover and on the tagline “a story of Mary Shelley” , I was peaked at the notion that it may be a feminist story of sorts and how the story Frankenstein came to existence . That rug was quickly removed when about half way into the novel , I was still being spoon fed narratives of Shelley, her husbands , fickle antics and irresponsible behaviors . This book positions mary Shelley to be a loyal and complacent homemaker to a man that is always in debt , chases after revolutions he isn’t even apart of , and throws away a wife and two children from a previous marriage due to his boredom . I am incredibly disappointed at this novel . Wish I could get a refund and the hours I spent searching for good storytelling back .

[Suanne]

A Storm in the Stars purports to be a novel about Mary Shelley; it's right there in the subtitle: A Novel of Mary Shelley. In essence, it is more the story of her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and she plays a rather subservient female role. Mary comes from a strong literary lineage: her mother is the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and her father is the philosopher William Godwin. After her mother dies in childbirth, her father remarries an overbearing woman and has additional children and eventually opens a bookstore, hoping to make enough money to support his family. Mary and Percy meet in this bookstore and fall in love. Though he is married with a child and another on the way, they run off together with Mary’s half-sister, Jane (who assumes the names of Clara then Claire), tagging along.

Having read Frankenstein and several retellings of that story, I was very much let down by this book. Though advertised as Mary’s story, there are so many points of view that detract from her story, including those of Jeff Hogg, a school chum of Percy’s; Claire; Dr. Polidori, the poet Byron’s personal physician. As these extraneous points of view seem to outnumber Mary’s, they really detract from her story. I was disappointed, too, that story of Mary writing of Frankenstein was boring. Though a relatively short read at 349 pages, it felt interminable.

[San]

DNF - 65%

I won't give the book a star rating. I feel like that's unfair since I didn't finish and honestly, I'm confused about how I really feel about it. It's not really bad but it's also not really good. I think maybe with the end of the year coming around, I would rather spend the time reading a better book.

Truly, my biggest gripe with this book is Shelley. Not Mary Shelley, but her 'husband'. This is where I feel bad about not being able to finish the book because it's not really the author's fault this character is annoying as heck. He only went off what the man did in real life. I just found his character insufferable, leaving his wife and child etc etc. Just couldn't bring myself to be interested in the development of his story anymore, and in turn, Mary's and Clara's. Obviously, not one I will recommend.

[PANicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book club choice and we were able to zoom with the author at our meeting. We all learned a lot about Mary Shelley and the times she lived in. As I was reading, I thought the juxtaposition of her life with that of the characters in Pride and Prejudice was important because they lived in roughly the same time period in England and were so different in the type of free love/life experiences they had. We get a new look at a world where writing, as a profession, results in messy decisions by the writers and those who support them. Their worlds enmesh in ways we haven’t really seen in other writing of those times, which tends to be more romanticized, showing us a reality that is often tawdry and astonishing in its caviler moments.

[Sharon Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am intrigued by what I call biographical novels. A recent fav is Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, which centers on Shakespeare's wife, Agnes, about whom very little is known. In other words, it's mostly conjecture, but what an imagination O'Farrell has.

Don Zancanella's task was more straightforward: to take the known life facts of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley and use them to create a narrative arc, one that is consistent with history even as it brings history to life. I've never known more than the cursory facts about Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. What an enjoyable way to learn more about their lives and work.

[Steven Severance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very fast read. I knew nothing about the biographies of Byron, and the two Shellys so everything about it was new. I really have never liked romatic poetry except for a couple of odes by Keats. But the lives here are very dramatic, and the plot of this book rushes forward.

As I worried before starting, it is somewhat problematic haveing a male writer write about Mary Shelly. The author actually seems more interested in Percy Shelly and Lord Byron. The tow male poets are both presented as larger than life. On the other hand I now know more about Mary and her proto-feminist mother than I ever knew before.

[Joanne Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is decent. But how do you take the CREATION of Frankenstein and make the most humdrum boring story from it?...

...you write this.

I am just glad to be done. Hate Shelley. Hate the whole lot of them... Shelley is a dog, Byron is a dog- but at least he's honest about it.

It's supposed to be a story of Mary Shelley- but I learned more about Jane/Claire , Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and LBs traveling physician Pontirelli.

20 pages or maybe even less of this nearly 200pg book was any semblance of Frankenstein. If you want to know more about Petcey Shelley's baby mamma Harriet... then this book is for you.

[Maggie Koger]

A good read and a fascinating portrayal of the era and the rebels who saw its flaws, perhaps without understanding their own. The characters are passionate believers ill suited to the age they lived in and their activism would be damned in the same vein by many people today. I'm always grateful for a book I can read, enjoy, and learn from. There's a fascinating article in the 2018 New Yorker by Jill Lepore about the Mary Shelley and the writing of Frankenstein. I recommend it as well.

[Grace Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never read Frankenstein but this book has piqued my interest. I got this book back in the spring because it mentioned mary and Shelley’s travels to Chamonix, Mont Blanc and Geneva, all of which were places I’ve gone to this summer so it was cool reading it after these visits and picturing what was said in the book. The author did a great job of melding old English writing with more of a modern style and the story itself is intriguing and tragic.

[Thanh Hoang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming narrative but highly romanticized. Even the least likeable characters are tolerable: the author excluded the more tragic elements of the people to make them, I imagine, more palatable and less prone to angst. The Shelleys are painted in the best light possible. Overall well-written and recommended for a fun fanfic-like retelling of Mary Shelley's life and the people around her.

[Gina Dalfonzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style is rather terse, and I think it was a mistake to leave out the birth and death of Mary Shelley's first child, as well as to go from multiple points of view to just one at the end. Still, for all that, the author tells a good story.

[J.E. Medrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a lot more "following the life of" than I expected. Not bad, just not my cuppa. I consumed this as an audiobook, which the edition is not available. The narrator did an excellent job.

[E G Melby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting- I now need to read up on everyone in this book.

[Amber Loptien · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the nosy bitches that want 200 year old gossip.

[Madi · Rating 2 out of 5]

For thos to be about Mary Shelley we sure do focus on everyone else alot.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read if you like historical fiction.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid